Asian Champions Trophy : Drowning out echoes of 2021
Chennai, August 10
Maintaining intensity throughout the 60 minutes of the game and consistency in finishing would be India’s targets when the hosts take on Japan in the semifinals of the Asian Champions Trophy here tomorrow.
No doubt, India will start as favourites after their unbeaten run in the round robin stage, winning four matches and drawing one to top the points table.
However, India would be wary of Japan, the only side the hosts failed to beat. The league match between the two sides had ended in a 1-1 draw.
There is a wide gap in the world rankings between the two teams as India are at fourth spot and Japan are 19th. But the home side should not forget that they had lost 3-5 to Japan in the semifinals of the 2021 edition in Dhaka after thrashing their opponents 6-0 in the league stage.
India have scored the most number of goals (20) so far in this tournament but they missed chances galore against Japan in their league match. Craig Fulton’s side could also utilise only one of the 15 penalty corners they earned against Japan.
Following India’s 4-0 thrashing of arch-rivals Pakistan yesterday, Fulton noted that it would be vital for his side to maintain consistency in all the four quarters of the match.
“We had some good consistency in each quarter (against Pakistan), which we did the same during the Japan game. We also had more penetration into the circle in each quarter than Japan. So, it will be about maintaining consistency and not doing it just one way,” he said.
India vice-captain and midfielder Hardik Singh felt that more patience was needed inside the scoring zone. “We expect to carry the same momentum. But we still need to have more patience inside the D. Also, we need to set up the tempo of the game. We will be treating Japan as a top team,” he said.
As far as Japan is concerned, they sneaked into the semifinals ahead of Pakistan on better goal difference. Overall, Japan’s performance has been far from convincing. They managed just one win (against China). Although Japan have impressed defensively, especially during the penalty corners, their attacking line-up has been disappointing. — PTI
Sreejesh to take call on future after Asiad
Chennai: Veteran India hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is taking one tournament at a time as far as his future is concerned and said he will “see how things happen” after the Asian Games in September-October. The 35-year-old is nearing 300 international matches after making his India debut in 2006. He is currently sharing the goalkeeping duties with Krishan Pathak. “At this age, better don’t ask me about the next two years. It’s all about the next one. I am at the Asian Games, and after that, I’ll see how things happen. I will take it one tournament at a time,” Sreejesh said.
