Showtime as India, Pak clash in semis

Indervir Grewal

Tribune News Service

Bhubaneswar, December 12

The blue turf at the Kalinga Stadium will turn into a battle-zone as the Indian team, cheered on by 7000-plus supporters, will face their most fierce rivals.

The semifinals clash between India and Pakistan has created such a buzz in the city that the demand for tickets has gone up phenomenally. A day before the match, the venue already got a teaser of what the intensity of the crowd will be tomorrow.

The ticket booth outside the stadium was vandalised by frustrated fans seeking tickets. All throughout the morning and afternoon the booth was swallowed by a huge crowd seeking tickets. The scene got so tense that police had to be deployed.

With the kind of support India got in their matches till now, it won’t be a surprise that the spectators will make life hell for Pakistan.

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh, though, thinks otherwise. “When India and Pakistan play, the pressure is always on the home team,” Sheikh said. “There is no pressure on us. When we had left home, we had said that our main aim was to finish in the top-four. We have been successful in doing so.”

Pakistan know the importance of the match tomorrow. If they beat India, it will be the first time Pakistan will reach the final of the Champions Trophy since 1998. “Tomorrow’s match is nothing less than the final for us. We have done our homework,” Pakistan Captain Muhammad Imran said.

Pakistan surprised everyone with their win over Netherlands on Thursday and Indian coach Roelant Oltmans said that it showed how good they are.

“This is the third time we play this year. So we have to again find a strategy to beat them. They are very good at counter-attacking and that is exactly what I am expecting from them. We will have to play our 100 percent to win. The key tomorrow will be executing the plans and not getting carried away by emotions,” Oltmans said.

Reacting to Sheikh’s comments that India would be under more pressure, he said, “No. I feel no pressure. My players feel no pressure. We are here to improve ourselves and show the world we have improved. And we have proved ourselves. A top-four finish is a great achievement. But now that we have come so close, we want achieve more.” India are chasing history — a win over Pakistan will take them to their first final of the event (India had only won a bronze in 1982). Australia take on Germany in the other semifinal.

Pak coach makes awful 9/11 gaffe

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh told journalists he would use the same strategy against India that he had been using against the other teams. A journalist asked him to explain the strategy. The strategy wasn’t anything worth noticing but his choice of words was poor, if not insensible. A few days ago, Sheikh in an informal talk with a few journalists had said that he had been using the “9-11 strategy” against his opponents. As soon as he had said the words, he explained that he wasn’t alluding to the terrorist attacks on the WTC in New York. It was the name he had given to a strategy in which Pakistan attacked with nine players in the opponents’ half and defended with 11 players in their own half. A journalist today asked Sheikh if Pakistan would use their 9-11 strategy against India and what it meant. Without any hesitation, Sheikh went on to explain the strategy again. Sheikh might have had no intention to cause a controversy by naming his strategy 9-11, being the coach of a national team he should have known better than to repetitively use the term in public. He could have easily said that their team would attack in numbers and defend in numbers. — Indervir Grewal