| Terrific India march into final
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Chennai
September 8, 2007
India 4 Japan 1
Prabhjot Singh’s double strike ensured India an easy passage into the Asia Cup final beating Japan 4-1 here on Saturday. The semi-finals against Japan were predicted to be tough but in the end, the Indian forwards made it look easy.
Shivender Singh, Prabhjot Singh (2) and Roshan Minz were crafty enough to beat the Japanese defenders and ensure that India play South Korea in what will be their second meeting in an Asia Cup final. Way back in 1993, India met South Korea in the final and lost 0-1. Defending champions India would be looking to successfully defend their 2003 crown that they won in Kuala Lumpur.
It was a slow start as Japan opened the Indian defence to earn their first penalty corner which Baljit Singh defended well by standing on the line and using his gloves to good effect.
India also had a penalty corner which they couldn’t convert. It was only in the 22nd minute that India finally opened up the flanks to dissect the Japanese defence. Shivender’s run down the flank saw him approach on the line as his flick had enough pace to beat the Japanese goalkeeper.
The goal of the match came a minute later in the 23rd minute. Prabhjot snatched the ball away from a Japanese midfielder, sprinted past two defenders and seeing the Japanese goalkeeper advance, flicked the ball beautifully over the keeper into the goal. With India leading 2-0, Japan had a huge task on their hands. India almost frittered the advantage away when a rough sliding tackle by Sardara Singh earned him a yellow card and India for almost five minutes were down to ten men. But they held together in the midfield and didn’t give any advantage to the Japanese.
At the break, India led 2-0.
In the second half, it was the turn of Japan to get a yellow card. Anai Yoshiro was trying to stop Shivender but he fell and in the process tripped the Indian. Japan’s trump card Yamabori Takahiko wasn’t on the mark. Even Japan’s second penalty corner was directed at Baljit who easily deflected the ball off his gloves.
In the 54th minute, Prabhjot sent a cross to Tushar who entered the striking circle and seeing Roshan Minz standing in front of the Japanese goalkeeper gave it to him. Minz waited for the Japanese goalkeeper to commit and seeing him dive forward, flicked the ball into the net.
Japan and India had a penalty corner each as India crowded the midfield in a move to defend their 3-0 lead.
Japan, finally, cut the scores when Yamabori flicked powerfully as the scores read 1-3.
India put the match beyond Japan’s reach when Prabhjot had the ball in the striking circle, swiveled around and struck a super shot that went past the Japanese goalkeeper, onto the boards.
Indian coach Joaquim Carvalho, said, “I was worried when the goals didn’t come in the first twenty minutes. The Japanese were attacking and there were a few close shaves. But once, we got the opener, we played well and now we are confident about meeting South Korea in the final on Sunday.”
The man-of-the-match went to Shivender which was a little surprising as Prabhjot had a good match. But then in the end it was a team effort.
Score Sheet:
Shivender Singh (22nd, FG) 1-0
Prabhjot Singh (23rd, FG) 2-0
Roshan Minz (54th, FG) 3-0
Yamabori Takahiko (68th, PC) 1-3
Prabhjot Singh (70th, FG) 4-1
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| 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  |
|||||||
| 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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