HULUNBUIR: In a stunning upset, hosts China floored Pakistan in a penalty shootout to reach their maiden Asian Champions Trophy final amid stirring scenes at the Moqi Hockey Training Base on Monday.

China’s 2-0 shootout victory after the semi-final had ended 1-1 in regulation time in front of a fervent home crowd saw their players swarm goalkeeper Caiyu Wang, who denied Pakistan’s efforts to set up a title showdown against India on Tuesday.

India later thumped South Korea 4-1 in the other last-four clash at the venue which was still swept in celebrations by the home fans, who had gathered in large numbers due to a public holiday for the Mooncake Festival which marks the post-harvest celebrations in China.

Pakistan had thrashed China 5-1 in their round-robin fixture but they faced a stronger, more resolute home side with a spot in the final on the line.

The game started slowly with both teams struggling to find space in each other’s defence. However, China kept control of the ball and made more attacks than Pakistan and eventually took the lead in the 18th minute through Yuanlin Lu’s powerful drag-flick.

The goal lifted the home crowd and they pushed on their team with Pakistan struggling in midfield, constantly losing possession.

Eager to find the leveller, Pakistan came back strongly in the second-half and laid siege to the Chinese goal. And after several attempts of finding a decisive deflection failed, they found the equaliser in the 37th minute through Ahmed Nadeem, whose superb backhand gave Wang no chance.

The Koreans will now clash with Paki­stan in the third-place match on Tuesday.

Pakistan pressed for the winner but China’s strong man-to-man marking allowed them little space and although they made a few circle entries, the match went to a shootout where Wang stood firm and Benhai Chen and Changliang Lin got the goals.

“We prepared for this match with great enthusiasm,” Lu said after the match. “We discussed strategies in small batches before we finally got together as a team and prepared for the match against Pakistan. It also helped that we had played a few test matches against Pakistan just before this tournament. We had won against them in some of those matches, so we were quite upbeat.”

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Singh continued his goal-scoring form with a brace in the other semi-final as his side saw of Korea in clinical fashion.

Uttam Singh gave India the lead in the 13th minute, tapping-in Araijeet Singh Hundal’s supply from the right before Harmanpreet made it 2-0 from a penalty corner six minutes later.

Two minutes into the third quarter, Jarmanpreet Singh’s shot from just inside the circle found its way through for India’s third and although Yang Jihun pulled one back for the Koreans a minute later from a penalty corner, Harmanpreet’s second drag-flick conversion of the game in the 45th settled the contest.

Japan goalkeeper Takumi Kitagawa was outstanding in the goalpost to ensure his team ended their campaign in the prestigious event on a winning note.

In Monday’s opening fixture, Japan downed Malaysia 4-2 in a shootout after a thrilling fifth-place playoff between the two sides had ended 4-4.

Goals were scored by Kazumasa Matsumoto (3rd, 37th), Yuki Chiba (24th) and Seren Tanaka (59th) for Japan in the regulation time while Kosei Kawabe, Matsumoto, Tanaka and Tsubasa Tanaka scored in the shootout.

For Malaysia, Akhimullah Anuar (5th), Faizal Saari (21st, 32nd) and Fitri Saari (47th) scored in regulation time while Faizal and Norsyafiq Sumantri scored in the shootout.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2024