FIH World Cup Qualifier, Men – Lille, France
Results Day 2: Sunday 1 November 2009
Pakistan - Russia 5:0 (3:0)
PAK 23mn Rehan BUTT (FG) 1:0
PAK 31mn Shakeel ABBASI (FG) 2:0
PAK 33mn Sohail ABBAS (PC) 3:0
PAK 37mn Muhammad IMRAN (PC) 4:0
PAK 43mn Abdul Haseem KHAN (FG) 5:0
Japan - Poland 3:2 (3:2)
JPN 2mn Kenta TANAKA (FG) 1:0
POL 9mn Tomasz DUTKIEWICZ (PC) 1:1
JPN 14mn Tomonori ONO (FG) 2:1
JPN 34mn Katsuyoshi NAGASAWA (PC) 3:1
POL 35mn Maciej JANISZEWSKI (PC) 3:2
Italy - France 0:3 (0:1)
FRA 9mn Martin GENESTET (FG) 0:1
FRA 50mn Frédéric SOYEZ (PC) 0:2
FRA 58mn Frédéric SOYEZ (PC) 0:3
(Pix and Story By FIH) The FIH World Cup Qualifier in Lille, France, continued in increasingly cold, windy and rainy conditions. Pakistan earned easily their second win against Russia (5-0), Japan won a very tight and important game against Poland (3-2) and France pleased their fans with a 3-0 win over Italy.
Game 4 – Pakistan v. Russia: 5-0 (half-time: 3-0)
It took Pakistan a few minutes to find some rhythm in the cold weather, but they soon took control of the game. They built up some chances in front of the Russian goal, however the first real opportunity was at the other end, with a penalty corner for Russia well saved by Zeeshan ASHRAF in goal. ASHRAF was called again into action soon after on an instant shot by Yaroslav LOGINOV who collected a ball loosely controlled by the Pakistani defense.
Game 5 – Japan v. Poland: 3-2 (half-time: 3-2)In what was billed as the most balanced match of the day, Japan did not wait long to stake their claim on the game, their prolific striker Kenta TANAKA opening the scoring after less than a minute of play! The Poles were undeterred and reacted immediately, forcing a penalty-corner well converted by Tomasz DUTKIEWICZ a few minutes later.
Game 6 – Italy v. France: 0-3 (half-time: 0-1)
Buoyed by a crowd of hearty fans who did not seem bothered by the torrential rain, the French tried to score quickly to reassure themselves after their opening day set-back against Poland. They promptly earned a penalty-corner and tried a deflection, but it flew just over the crossbar. After a swift counter-attack soon after, Martin GENESTET lost the ball while entering the circle, but somehow collected it again to slam it into goal.
