| GA's Predictions
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India will have a test by fire. Though, India is on a roll, they would have a tough match against South Korea. Actually, Korea would take the lead. India needs to hold on and trust their senior players. If the management listens to the senior players and acts according to them, it would do well in the match. India’s cards for the match point towards a victory. Let’s keep faith and ensure that India are crowned Asia Cup Champions.
GA’s Semi-Final Predictions
India-Japan: It will be a tough match in which Japan would take the lead. But India would fight back, equalize and win the match. Most of the cards are in favour of India winning the Asia Cup.
South Korea-Malaysia: Malaysia will be a tough nut to crack. In fact, Malaysia might end up winning the semi-final. Malaysia is in the midst of a good run and they could extend it all the way to the final. Malaysia needs to look at the injuries and select the team judiciously. If they do that, they could win the semi-final against South Korea.
Player Performance
Goalkeepers:
Baljit Singh: He would play well but should be careful with his tackling as he could get hurt.
Adrian D'Souza: His performance would be excellent. One could see him raise his levels.
Full backs:
Dilip Tirkey: After Boom, he would carry on his fine performance. He would once again re-establish himself as the back bone of the team.
William Xalco: Would be the perfect foil for Dilip Tirkey. His performance would once for all shut up his critics.
V.R. Raghunath: The goal is in his sights. He needs to relax before taking the penalty corners. Everything points to him as the winner.
Jaswinder Singh: He is only going to gain experience.
Half-backs:
Gurbaj Singh: He would initially struggle but would ultimately perform and show his brilliance.
Bimal Lakra: He has all the qualities of a world class medio. But the management needs to keep pushing him. In the Asia Cup, a lot depends on him and he would not disappoint.
Prabodh Tirkey: Captaincy came early but it has helped him as a player to gain maturity. He would have an excellent match against South Korea.
Ignace Tirkey: After walking out of the team at the last Azlan Shah tournament, Ignace is back and will regain his position in the team.
Vikram Kanth: He will put in an average performance.
Forwards:
Prabhjoth Singh: He can still be a match-winner but in this Asia Cup, he should leave his normal game and think out of the box. If Prabjoth can play an inside role rather than as a winger, he would do well.
Rajpal Singh: He would have an excellent tournament. It would be good if the management could inter-change his position regularly.
Tushar Khandekar: Chennai has always been good to him. He would be in top form.
Roshan Minz: A very balanced player but Minz needs to take a few risks and not always play safe.
Shivendra Singh: One of the match-winners in the side, Shivender should be played for a lengthy period against China.
S.V. Suresh: He would have an average tournament.
Chief coach:
Joaquim Carvalho: As a coach he will do well and have an excellent tournament.
TEAM PERFORMANCE
31/08/2007
India Vs China - 1900hrs (IST)
India will have a slow start to the match and would commit mistakes in the beginning. But Carvalho would ensure that the team regains focus, doesn’t commit the same mistakes that were done at Doha. The cards show that India would walk away with a win.
01/09/2007
India Vs Sri Lanka - 1900hrs
India will win but what is important are goals. India needs to score a lot of goals to give the forwards some target practice.
03/09/2007
India Vs Korea - 1900hrs
This match could go either way. But the cards say that India’s fortunes for this match lie in their midfield. Bimal Lakra and Ignace could take this match away from Korea. If that happens, India will walk away with a win.
04/09/2007
India Vs Bangladesh - 1700hrs
India should not under-estimate Bangladesh. If they take it easy, India could end up playing a close game and win by a slender margin. It will not be easy for India.
05/09/2007
India Vs Thailand - 1900hrs
It will be an easy win for India.
Gargi Arora is a tarot card reader and a teacher by profession. This is the first time she has ventured into predicting players performance of the Indian hockey team. You can get in touch with her at arora.gargi@gmail.com
| Schedule |
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Final Standings :
1. India
2. S Korea
3. Malaysia
4. Japan
5. China
6. Pakistan
7. Bangladesh
8. Hong Kong
9. Sri Lanka
10. Singapore
11. Thailand
Sunday's Matches  |
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| TEAM A | TEAM B | Playoff | TIME | RESULT | |||
| S Lanka | SPore | 9/10 | 08:00 | 6-0 | |||
| Ban | HKG | 7/8 | 07:00 | 3-1 | |||
| China | Pak | 5/6 | 09:30 | 3-2 | |||
| Malaysia | Japan | 3/4 | 16:00 | 5-3 | |||
| India | S Korea | 1/2 | 18:30 | 7-2 | |||
|
Saturday's Matches |
|||||||
| TEAM A | v | TEAM B | TIME | RESULT | |||
| Singapore | v | Thailand | 08:00 | 4-0 | |||
| Pak | v | Ban | 07:00 | 10-0 | |||
| China | v | HongKong | 09:30 | 6-1 | |||
| S Korea | v | Malaysia | 17:00 | 2-1 | |||
| India | v | Japan | 19:30 | 4-1 | |||
|
SCORE TABLE |
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| POOL A | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| Malaysia SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 4 | 10 | |
| Japan SF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 9 | |
| Pakistan | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 7 | 7 |
| Hong Kong | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 28 | 3 | |
| Singapore | 4 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 0 | ||
| POOL B | |||||||
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | PTS |
| India SF | 5 | 5 | 46 | 2 | 15 | ||
| S Korea SF | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 8 | 10 |
| China | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 6 | 10 |
| Bangladesh | 5 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 22 | 6 | |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 46 | 3 | |
| Thailand | 5 | 5 | 1 | 67 | 0 | ||
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 A team should be ready to play anyone. Of course, more |
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