IPOH (Malaysia), Aug 24: Pakistan issued a stern warning to Malaysia that they mean business in the Asia Cup.

The three-time Asia Cup champions humiliated Japan 7-0 in their opening Group ‘A’ match at the Azlan Shah Stadium on Saturday.

Pakistan started on a bright note and raced to a 6-0 lead in the first half before the Japanese came up with a spirited effort in the second period to concede just one goal.

Surprisingly, the Japanese defence crumbled like a pack of cards in front of the ever-attacking Pakistanis in the first-half with Mohammad Waqas (12th, 20th), Abdul Haseem Khan (22nd), Mohammad Tousiq (25th, 35th) and captain Mohammad Imran (33rd) handing a comfortable lead to their side at the lemon break.

But it was completely different scenario after the break as Pakistan found it extremely difficult to breach the Japanese defence, which seemed to have learnt from its mistakes.

After toiling hard for the entire second-half, Pakistan managed to score another goal at the stroke of the hooter through their skipper Imran who converted a penalty corner.

Pakistan’s dominance can be gauged from the fact that they scored five of their goals from penalty corners while the other two came through field efforts.

Pakistan forward Shakeel Abbasi was clearly delighted with the comprehensive victory.

“It was a morale boosting win for us. The win has inspired us to go all out to get the better of Malaysia [on Sunday],” said the 30-year-old. “Malaysia have home ground advantage and been playing well lately. But we’re all fired up to give our best against them and qualify for the semi-finals.”

Malaysia, meanwhile demolished debutant Chinese Taipei 10-2 in the other Group ‘A’ match.—Agencies