By Azlanshahcup.comPAKISTAN ended up in fifth place in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup when they defeated China 6-5 on penalty strokes after the two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation and extra time
Pakistan had recorded a 6-2 win in the preliminary round over China and had expected another easy match, as evident from their lackadaisical approach in the early stages of the match.
China were awarded a penalty corner in the fifth minute but did not capitalize on the situation. However China were not to be denied as Na Yubo, easily their best player in the tournament, scored in the 24th minute.
Pakistan were lethargic, and missing was their fast breaks and wizardry as they took time to adjust to the humid conditions, made worse after a downpour earlier.
But try as Pakistan did, they failed to create any worthy goal scoring chances and at the break China led 1-0. The equalizer did come eventually as Shafqat Rasool was the first to pounce on a penalty corner rebound in the 43rd minute.
Though Pakistan forced a series of penalty corners after that, Chinese keeper Su Rifeng was outstanding.
The match then went into extra time but it failed to produce the golden goal. And the first series of strokes also did not produce a winner as both teams converted their five penalty strokes.
For Pakistan, Muhammad Irfan, Shafqat Rasool, Muhammad Touseeq, Mohamad Zubair and Muhamad Rizwan converted while for China, Sun Tianjun, Liu Yixian, Liu Xiantang, Dong Yang and Ji Mi were all successful in their attempts.
In the sudden death Khasif Ali missed the attempt but so did China’s Dong Yang. Shafqat Rasool scored the next but Ji Mi’s attempt rebounded of the post and Pakistan were fifth.
