India start off cold but win nevertheless

13/12/2001

INDIA 3 JAPAN 0
INDIA started badly but recovered in the second half to beat Japan in the
Champions Challenge at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil
yesterday.
With the win, India now have seven points and need to beat Argentina
today if they want to play in the final on Saturday.
India started the match on a desperate mode but their wild running and
passing only made matters worse for the team because all Japan had to do
was keep their cool to keep the score score 0-0.
Twenty minutes into the match and India were still running all over the
turf like there was only two minutes of play left in the match. In their
haste, they bungled plenty of wall passes and goals scoring opportunities.
Japan looked deadlier in their well planned counter attacks but as the
horn for the half time blew, umpire Antonio Bustos awarded India their
second penalty corner.
Indian skipper Baljit Singh took a thundering shot but goalkeeper Jun
Takahashi managed to save the shot. Daljit Singh then pounced on the
rebound and Jun again made a save but the ball fell at Deepak Thakur's
feet.
Deepak took a shot at goal and his stick clashed with a Japanese
defender's stick and the umpire first blew for another penalty corner but
when the ball sailed over Jun into the back of the goalmouth, umpire
Bustos changed his mind and blew for goal.
To their credit, not a single Japanese player protested the goal but
walked into the changing room to prepare for the second half.
But barely six minutes after the breather Sukhbor Singh lobbed the ball
from the center of the pitch and found Baljit Singh. Baljit beat a few
defenders before passing the ball to Prabhjot Singh who coolly pushed in
India's second goal.
India went all out after that and in the 65th minute Deepak Thakur's
shot was deflected into goal by a Japanese defender and India took a
comfortable 3-0 lead.
India coach Cedric d'Souze felt they could have scored three more goals
against Japan, but missed too many opportunities.
"We started the match wanting three points and scoring as many goals as
possible, we achieved one and the score was not too good because the
tournament is still tightly grouped and goals could play a major role in
the end to decide who makes the final," said Cedric.
When asked about their next match against Argentina: "I will give you a
quote from an Argentinian player whom I met on the bus coming to the
stadium today (yesterday).
"He said, the 5-4 win against India in the World Cup qualifiers was a
one-off thing and it will be hard for Argentina to repeat the feat
anymore."
(END)