KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team trounced Malaysia 3-2 in their final round-robin league match here Saturday to set date with world champions Australia in the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament 2011 at Ipoh.
Azlan Shah Cup: Pakistan vs Malaysia. Courtesy: Getty Images
The hosts were off to an impressive start with a flurry of moves but their forwards lacked execution while Pakistan’s defenders also stepped up their game to avoid goal deficit.
After surviving initial pressure, Pakistan came back strongly in the seventh minute earning a penalty corner where the world’s top goal-scorer Sohail Abbas made no mistake to take Pakistan 1-0 up in the eighth minute of the first half.
Azlan Shah Cup: Pakistan vs Malaysia. Courtesy: Reuters
On the other hand, Malaysians kept missing chances as they failed to convert a penalty corner in the 14th minute while Kevinder shed an opportunity from open play as Pakistan continued to keep their lead successfully.
Sohail Abbas also missed an opportunity to double the lead off another penalty corner in the 20th minute but just a minute later Waqas Akbar scored second goal of the match for Green Shirts.
Malaysian forwards, playing for survival, upped the tempo and a flurry of attacks was resulted in their first goal just at the stroke of halftime thus keeping them in the game.
Teams went into the halftime with Pakistan leading by 2-1 and a lot was yet to be done to win the match.
Both teams won a number of penalty corners in the second half but failed to pounce on the opportunities until 50th minute when Pakistan counterattacked and forward Shakeel Abbasi made it 3-1 from open play.
The hosts continued to attack and kept missing goals and missed a good opportunity in the 56th minute to come back in the match through a penalty corner but in the next minute Pakistan’s Shakeel Abbasi was shown the Green Card for continued dissent following which Razie didn’t waste the chance and scored second goal for the hosts.
The final three minutes were the best part of the match as both teams played their best hockey resulting in a penalty stroke to the hosts but only when Malaysian player was about to take the stroke referee reversed his decision after Pakistani players protested the call.
The match was ended on a bitter note with players from both sides exchanging hot words but Pakistan rallied on Shakeel Abbasi’s goal to set date with Australia in the final.
With this victory, Pakistan also completed their second victory over Malaysia in the past six months when the Green Shirts had defeated them in the Asian Games final.
In another match earlier in the day, South Korea put waters on Great Britain’s hopes of qualifying for the final with a 3-1 victory and set up a fifth-place playoff match against India.
The Indian and South Korea will play in the playoff while New Zealand will face Great Britain on Sunday.
