INCHEON: After a superb show in the group stage, Pakistan face a tough test on Tuesday evening under lights when they clash with Malaysia in the Asian Games hockey semi-final here at the Seonhak Stadium.

Earlier on Tuesday in the first semi-final, India will be meeting hosts South Korea.

Pakistan blanked Malaysia in the 2010 Asian Games final in Guangzhou, China 2-0 to win their first gold after 20 years with Sohail Abbas and Rehan Butt scoring goals for the green-shirts.

Now, Pakistan, six-time former Asiad champions, not only need to make the final but also successfully defend the title to ensure direct entry into the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“Defending the title and making the 2016 Olympics are the main targets. We are now two matches away from our mission,” a confident-looking chief coach Shahnaz Shaikh said after Pakistan team’s training session amid rain.

“We have a few secret weapons for the big matches and we will display those in the next two games [semi-final and final],” the coach added.

Shahnaz said it was very disappointing that Pakistan failed to make the finals of this year’s World Cup, launched by Pakistan, for the first time in 42 years.

“The heartening factor of our game in the league matches [here in Asiad] is that penalty corner conversion and forward line — two major areas — have been good for us so far,” he underlined.

Out of the 26 goals Pakistan scored in the Asiad league rounds here 14 were field efforts while 12 came from penalty corners.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Imran is the tournament’s highest goal-scorer with half a dozen strikes to his credit.

Meanwhile, Imran said Pakistan were upbeat in their hunt to defend the title here in Incheon.

“We all are aware of the importance of our next two matches, and we are well-equipped to handle pressure,” Imran said in an interview on Monday.

“We have always enjoyed superiority over Malaysians and are now looking forward to maintaining it with some new tactical game,” Imran, who was part of Pakistan’s 2010 Asian Games winning team led by Zeeshan Ashraf, remarked.

“Pressure is always there in big games like semi-final but my team is ready for the task ahead,” the full-back emphasised.

“I hope the team and myself will carry forward the momentum we showed in the league round,” the skipper added.

“Our build-up to the knockout stage has been near-perfect and our forwards have shown thrust for [scoring] goals which is a great sign,” Imran said.

In an impressive display, Pakistan faced no significant hurdle in reaching the last-four stage as they registered big wins over lowly teams like Sri Lanka (14-0) and Oman (8-0) in the group matches. The green-shirts also overpowered China (2-0) and traditional rivals India (2-1) to top the group.

It was encouraging to see that Pakistan forwards duo of Umar Bhutta and Mohammad Waqas combined brilliantly upfront and were supported by spearhead Haseem Khan, Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Rizwan Senior and teenager Mohammad Dilber.

Mohammad Imran, the team’s penalty corner specialist, and Mohammad Irfan will be key factors in the match against Malaysia.

While Pakistan netted 26 goals while conceding just one, Malaysia banged in 18 and conceded six goals which shows the difference between the two teams.

Like Pakistan, Malaysia also play attacking hockey with brilliant stick-work. Experienced player Mohammad Razie Abdul Rahman could prove a threat for Pakistan, particularly in penalty corners.

Published in Dawn, September 30th , 2014

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