|
|
| June 25, 2006 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1427 |
Pakistan end up in 5th spot
Pakistan 4 South Korea 1
Argentina 3 Malaysia 2
KUALA LUMPUR, June 24: Former champions Pakistan clinched fifth place in the 15th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup after beating South Korea 4-1 in a play-off on Saturday.
The Pakistanis, who dominated the match and were hardly troubled by the Koreans, scored two goals in each half to carve out a convincing win.
They scored their first half goals through Shakeel Abbasi and skipper Mohammad Saqlain in the 14th and 23rd minutes from field attempts.
The Koreans had a chance to reduce the deficit in the 28th minute when they earned a penalty stroke. But Jang Jong-hyun's flick hit the bar.
In the 42nd minute the Koreans finally scored with Kang Seong-jung converting a chance after a penalty corner rebound.
But they failed to capitalise on it and sank further behind when the Pakistanis hit back through Akthar Ali in the 46th minute and Waqas Sharif after 64 minutes.
Pakistan coach Asif Bajwa said he was pleased at his team's control of the match.
“We are pleased that we managed to get back our winning ways. This tournament has been a good eye opener and we learnt a lot,” he said.
Earlier Argentina scored a golden goal in the 79th minute to take seventh place in the tournament after coming from behind to beat Malaysia 3-2 in a play-off match.
It was the South Americans' second win of the tournament, after they beat Pakistan 2-0 in their last group match.
Argentina's performance against the Malaysians got off to a bad start when they fell behind to two quick goals in the 20th and 27th minutes through the efforts of Chua Boon Huat and Mohamed Razie from field attempts.
But three minutes before half time Matias Paredes managed to reduce the deficit.
In the second half the Argentines dominated play and managed to get the equaliser in the 49th minute through Mario Almad.
But the game still ended deadlocked. Nine minutes into extra time Innocente Argento managed to sneak in a field goal from a quick counter attack and the Argetines, making their first appearance in the tournament, ended up with a seventh-place finish.
Australia will play the Netherlands on Sunday in the final while India will take on New Zealand in the play-off for third place.—AFP
|
|
