The India-Pakistan Asian Games hockey semifinal match lived up to its billing on Thursday. The match was tied at 3-3 with seconds on the clock when Abhishek got the winner for India as they prevailed over their archrivals.
Sukhjeet Singh’s goal, India’s third, was just breathtaking, with Shilanand Lakra setting it up from the left. A great combo goal. At the time when Abhishek rose to the occasion and got the winner, the Indians were looking down and out, with the game looking set for a shootout. Harmanpreet reviewed the game for his team and spoke at length about where they were good and where they were lacking. “We started very well, but in the second half we made many mistakes, especially in our defence. They used those opportunities to score some quick goals. But we knew our structure and maintained it, which also made us able to score the goal in the final minute. It is a good lesson for us to learn and perform better in the final. “Despite not getting PCs in the second half, we still had opportunities. We conceded many silly goals. In the second half, we should not have made mistakes like we did. Hope to work on these and perform better in the final. “I think without the ball, we made more mistakes and also during the one-on-one tackles. We remained calm, which helped us score a goal in the last minute.
India played an ideal first quarter as they ran to a 3-0 lead with captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring a brace. Anyway, at that time, the Indians were in the driver’s seat, but in the third and fourth quarters, the Pakistanis ran amok to make it 3-3 thanks to goals from Abu Mahmood (30th minute), Hannan Shahid (45th minute) and Waheed Rana (49th minute). He particularly highlighted how they wasted Ammad Butt’s yellow card as they failed to score during his absence, with Pakistan being down to 10 men. We could have scored more goals, especially when they were down to 10 men. Hopefully, Harmanpreet’s men will improve and successfully defend their gold medal from Hangzhou 2023.
If truth be told, the Indians grew a bit defensive after their early big lead, and Pakistan pounced on that. We maintained possession, which helped us create the opportunity to score the final goal,” he said. The winners from the Republic of Korea-Malaysia match will play India in the final on Saturday.
