The two top teams in the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy faced off on Monday and India came away deserving winner with a 3-2 victory against Korea, the game as close as the scoreline suggests with the host pushed all the way by the defending champion.
It was a see-saw game with India’s performance mirroring its position in the game right through the contest. India took control of the game, opening up the field, switching flanks constantly to keep moving up and piercing the Korean defence. It was rewarded immediately, a fluent exchange between Sumit and Sukhjeet Singh resulting in a well-placed Nilakanta Sharma tapping in the opener right in the middle of the goal in the sixth minute.
But the calmness and structure from the previous outing was missing as the erratic Indian forwards kept conceding turnovers and hard-fought possession. The Koreans took full advantage of it, making counterattacks every time they had the ball. One such move saw Sunghyun Kim catch the Indian defence napping and shooting home in the 12th minute.
With the Indian midfield allowing little space and constantly rotating, the opposition started using aerial balls to bypass them with good effect. India’s finishing issues continued, something that coach Craig Fulton will need to address soon. The hosts also had just four penalty corners and even missed a penalty stroke while conceding 11 PCs, an area of concern for the defence.
That the Indians still came away winner is creditable given that the fourth quarter was almost entirely controlled by the Koreans. Considering that the past four meetings between the sides have all been draws and India last beat Korea way back in the 2018 edition of the competition, it would gladly take this victory ahead of the big clash against Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan registered a hard-fought 2-1 win against China to remain in the race for a semifinal spot. The former started aggressively as always but lack of tactical discipline, the inability to stay in structure and wayward shooting inside the circle meant there were as many turnovers conceded as chances created.
The Chinese, quick and strong, mounted numerous raids. It took an opportunistic deflection by Afraz — stretchered off earlier after being hit on the face by a shot from Ammad — for Pakistan to taste its first success here.
In the day’s first game, Malaysia won 3-1 against Japan, its third victory in four games.
The results: Malaysia 3 (Najmi Jazlan 13, Azuan Hasan 37, Shello Silverius 59) bt Japan 1 (Takuma Niwa 59); Pakistan (Mohammad Sufiyan 20, Afraz 39) bt China (Jiesheng Gao 33); India 3 (Nilakanta Sharma 6, Harmanpreet Singh 23, Mandeep Singh 33) bt Korea 2 (Sunghyun Kim 12, Jihun Yang 58).
