12 August,2023 07:14 AM IST | Chennai | Ashwin Ferro
India players celebrate a goal against Japan at Chennai yesterday. Pic/Hockey India
On the eve of India's semi-final clash against Japan here, coach Craig Fulton had said that it's time to score, and that's exactly what his team did.
India beat Japan 5-0 - more importantly, with four of those strikes being much-needed field goals - to storm into the final of the Asian Champions Trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium here on Friday.
The hosts began the match on a quick note with their forwards showing some good coordination and intent. They were rewarded for it immediately when Jarmanpreet Singh earned India its first penalty corner in as early as the second minute. However, skipper Harmanpreet Singh saw his drag flick padded away by Japan custodian Takashi Yoshikawa. Four minutes later, Gurjant Singh and Hardik Singh worked out a fine 1-2 move inside the Japanese box, but the final pass was not on target. Moments later, a Japanese move met with the same fate. Shota Yamada's final pass hopelessly went across the Indian goal with no one to get that final touch as the quarter finished goalless.
India began the second quarter briskly and reaped a quick reward for it. Four minutes into the restart, Hardik Singh played a fine wall pass and relayed a cross across the Japanese goal, which Takashi padded away, but only to Akashdeep Singh, who made no mistake with his first-time shot on goal. Off another speedy attack, India earned their second short corner in the 23rd minute and this time Harmanpreet made no mistake, beating Takasi to his left with a low shot to add one more to his tournament-leading tally of seven goals. In the last minute of the quarter, hardworking midfielder Manpreet Singh made a scintillating run down the centre of the Japanese striking circle before unleashing a shot that saw Mandeep add the final touch into the goal to make it 3-0.
The third quarter saw India take their foot off the pedal a bit, but even then they scored, once again, thanks to the brilliance of Manpreet. He ran in from the right and relayed an inch-perfect through pass to Sumit (39th min), who received the ball and flicked it past a hapless Takahashi.
India completed the rout in the fourth quarter, thanks to the effective use of the long, high ball once again. Harmanpreet, who time and again, found his forwards inside the Japanese box with his long aerial passes, this time found Sukhjeet Singh, who swiftly passed the ball to local lad Karthi Selvam (51st min) to hammer home for 5-0. India will meet Malaysia in today's final.
Earlier, Malaysia beat Korea 6-2 in the first semi-final. Korea opened the scoring in the second minute through Woo Cheon Ji only to see Malaysia's Abu Kamal Azrai equalise in the next minute. It was Malaysia all the way thereafter as Najmi Jazlan (9th and 21st min) and Shello Silverius (47th and 48th) netted a brace each while Faizal Saari added one to complete the tally. Korea got their second goal through Jonghyun Jang (21st min).
