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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24, Sydney Olympic bronze medallists Australia and former world champions Pakistan played to a 2-2 draw in a match of academic interest in the six-nation invitational tournament.
Both the teams knew beforehand that they had qualified for Saturday’s final and used the opportunity to try out different tactics.
There was no question of holding back though as both teams fielded their best players available.
Play swung from end to end and it was a perfect endorsement of what was in store Saturday.
Australia opened scoring in the 3rd minute when Jeremy Hiskins dived in at the far post to connect a cross from Jamie Dwyer past a bewildered Mohammad Qasim in the Pakistan goal.
But the men in green did not panic and led by the influential Shahbaz Ahmad launched numerous attacks.
And their endeavors bore fruit when Kashif Jawwad scored the equalizer in the 27th minute.
The lead was short-lived as the Aussies doubled their efforts and it paid dividends in the 32nd minute when Hiskins slipped past a static Pakistani defence on the left and scored from an acute angle.
It is always difficult to stop Sohail Abbas when he is in form and this proved to be the case in the 38th minute when he sent his attempt into the roof of the Australian goal.
AFP ADDS: New Zealand and Sydney Olympic champions Holland were drawn to play off for third place in the following the end of the preliminary round matches.
A lethargic Holland just beat Malaysia 3-2 thanks to a late burst which saw them come from 2-1 down with two goals in the last 15 minutes.
The win took the Dutch team to seven points and assured them a place in the third and fourth classification match Saturday against New Zealand, who qualified for the play-off by holding Japan to a 3-3 draw.
The Dutch side scored first when Teun De Nooijer swept on a save by Malaysian goalkeeper Mohd Nasihin Nubli Ibrahim.
Malaysia then picked up the pace with captain Mirnawan Nawawi scoring in the 42nd minute.
It was his second goal in as many days after a barren run of five months.
Malaysia continued to pressure the fast tiring Dutch team, and pulled ahead through midfielder S. Shankar, who scrambled the ball past goalkeeper Guus Vogels in the 47th minute.
But the Dutch side fought back and capitalised on a string of Malysian mistakes to score two quick goals.
Lanky forward Karel Klaver began the comeback, cleverly chipping the ball past two Malaysian defenders from the edge of the semi circle before beating Nasihin in the 55th minute.
Then, with just 10 minutes left on the clock, a horrendous mistake by K. Keeven Raj on the 50-yard line allowed three Dutch forwards to break.
Jaap Derk Buma collected the ball inside the semi circle to hammer home the winning goal for Holland.
Malaysian coach Paul Lissek though critical of the mistakes by his midfielders was nonetheless happy with the overall performance.
“We always give too much respect to certain teams but it was different today. The players played well but should cut down on the mistakes,” Lissek said.
New Zealand finished fourth after the preliminary rounds on five points following their draw with Japan, who finished bottom of the table.
Malaysia also finished with five points but were relegated to fifth spot and a play-off for bottom against Japan because of an inferior goal difference to New Zealand.
Tabulate under played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, goals difference, points:
Pakistan 5 4 1 0 21 5 16 13
Australia 5 2 3 0 15 12 3 9
Netherlands 5 2 1 2 14 12 2 7
New Zealand 5 1 2 2 10 12 -2 5
Malaysia 5 1 3 1 8 11 -3 5
Japan 5 0 1 4 6 23 -17 1
