India captain Harmanpreet Singh oozes confidence ahead of Saturday's Asian Champions Tropny final after 5-0 rout of Japan in semis
India captain Harmanpreet Singh during the semi-final against Japan in Chennai om Friday. Pic/Hockey India
India hammered Japan 5-0 in the semi-finals of the Asian Champions Trophy here on Friday. More importantly, four of these five goals were field goals, something the Indian team has been lacking in throughout the tournament.
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However, coach Craig Fulton insisted that it didn't matter how the goals came as long as they keep coming. "It honestly doesn't matter if we score through field goals or penalty corners. I'm happy if we score either way. It's just that it's ideal to have a balance of both field goals and penalty corners, but that cannot always happen," Fulton said at the post-match press conference.
India opened the scoring through Akashdeep Singh (19th minute) after which skipper Harmanpreet Singh (23rd) doubled the lead with one of his lethal drag flicks. Mandeep Singh (30th) then got a faint touch to finish off a brilliant move by Manpreet Singh after which Sumit (39th) and local lad Karthi Selvam (51st) scored a goal each to complete the rout. India meet Malaysia in the final on Satuday.
Earlier, on Friday, Malaysia beat Korea 6-2.
Captain Harmanpreer is hoping his team can continue not just the winning momentum, but also the goal-scoring spree against the Malaysians. "We have played them before in this tournament [India beat them 5-0] but a final is a totally different game. They will come well prepared as will we. We have a plan for them and hope to keep our structure and formation and get goals in the final too," said the ace drag-flicker, who is the leading scorer of the tournament with eight goals to his name.
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