Pak finish off India in dying seconds, enter final

Indervir Grewal

Tribune News Service

Bhubaneswar, December 13

The stadium erupted thrice like a volcano. Once when India took the early lead and twice when they fought back to equalise.

There was a constant roar throughout as India dominated for long periods and their attacks kept flowing.

But there were a few moments of hush, which cut holes into the continuous roar. The four goals Pakistan scored and the silence that accompanied ended up swallowing the whole Kalinga Stadium as the final hooter sounded.

India’s performance on the day was simply poor. Coach Roelant Oltmans had said before the match that his players were under no pressure. But the team was just overwhelmed by the big stage.

When attacking, the Indian players were in a debilitating hurry. They made silly mistakes, spoiling the buildup and faltered with the final try. Nikkin Thimmaiah, Manpreet Singh fired wide from very good angles. Sardar Singh had clear chance. He had so much time that he twice set up the shot before firing wide. Maybe the reason was that they trailed for most part. They kept firing in crosses, hoping to find a deflection or even a penalty corner. They scored the third goal from a Thimmaiah deflection but the others were just pointless.

Even after they equalised 3-3, India just kept going straight at the goal. Gurbaj Singh showed his experience at this stage and slowed down the game. For the next few minutes India rotated the ball, using the full width. India earned five penalty corners, wasting four of them.

When defending, the players looked jittery. India never looked comfortable against Pakistan forwards. Whenever Pakistan moved out on a counter, Indians panicked. At times, three Indians went in to tackle a single Pakistan forward. And then they conceded soft goals.

India took the lead in 12th minute from a penalty corner. It seemed as if Gurjinder Singh hadn’t got it cleanly on his stick but his drag-flick along the turf found the right corner. Pakistan kept hitting crosses from the right and the ploy troubled India throughout the first-half. One deflection went just wide. One got them a penalty corner at the end of the first quarter but the variation also went wide.

Pakistan started the second quarter with the same strategy and it got them the equaliser. The deflection by Muhammad Arslan Qadir whizzed into the near top-corner. They went ahead in the 32nd minute through a counter-attack. Shafqat Rasool ran in unmarked on the right and his shot to far post was deflected in by Muhammad Waqas.Six minutes later, Dharamvir Singh scored a beautifully set up goal.

Akashdeep Singh got the ball at the centre-line after an interception. With his teammates running into space all round him, he dodges one player and then passed the ball to Dharamvir at the top of the circle. With only the goalkeeper to beat, Dharamvir drifted left and fired home the equalizer.

The momentum shifted but not for long. Within six minutes, Muhammad Irfan’s drag-flick gave Pakistan the lead. Thimmaiah equalized in the same minute. However, Qadir scored his second in the penultimate minute and Pakistan held on to set up final with Germany.

In another match, Germany ousted Australia 3-2.

Other results: Argentina bt England 2-1; Netherlands bt Belgium 2-2 (4-2 in shootout).

Row over celebrations

Pakistan players went wild after the final hooter (3-4) sounded. They ran around in a frenzy; some of them throwing their sticks in the air. However, a few of them took off their shirts and made lewd gestures towards a section of the crowd. Tournament Director Wiert Doyer, after an investigation said: “I have spoken to the Shahnaz Sheikh, Head Coach, and told him that the behaviour of the Pakistan players went beyond what is acceptable to standards of the FIH. The behaviour in question concerned many members of the Pakistan team. It is difficult to find any particular miscreant, and it is possible that the behaviour of the players may have been a reaction. Shahnaz Sheikh has apologised and assured me that this behaviour will not occur again. Given these matters, I’ve decided that no further action is warranted.” TNS