India
Pakistan’s spirited display of hockey – led by Muhammad Irfan’s brace in the second half – stunned title favorites and 2012 Olympic silver-medalists 4-2 in the first quarter-final of the FIH Men’s Champions Trophy here on Thursday.Pakistani team was Without a point in the pool stage.Without a point in the league stage, the three-time champions went on to upset the 2012 Olympic silver-medallists 4-2 in the first quarter-final on Thursday.The game was locked 2-2 going into the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter. That’s when Irfan’s two penalty-corner strikes in two minutes (51st and 52nd) took the game away from the Netherlands as the Dutchmen held their heads in hand after the final whistle.The game began with the Orange shirts dominating proceedings as the action was restricted to the Pakistan half, and it did result in a field goal in the 6th minute off Jeroen Hertzberger’s stick.It took Pakistan a while to come back in the game, which they did through Muhammad Bhutta’s strike in the 16th minute and then took the lead in the final minute before half-time as skipper Muhammad Imran made his presence felt with a stupendous field effort.The Dutch outfit regrouped upon their return to the field and once again locked the game at 2-2 when Constantinjn Janker sounded the board.Pakistan lifted their game from that point on and launched a series of counter-attacks that brought about two penalty corners, which were converted by Irfan to slam the door on Netherlands, who will now play in the 5th-8th place playoffs while Pakistanis await their opponents in the semis, which will be either India or Belgium.”We were pretty match confident of beating the Netherlands as we were preparing for this match. The tournament actually started today as results of the pool stage didn’t matter,” Pakistan coach Sheikh Shahnaz said. “So we were not bothered about our three straight losses in Pool A.””I told my boys that India beat Netherlands, so there’s no reason why we couldn’t do that since we had beaten this Indian team in the league fixture at the Asian Games. The loss in the final at Incheon didn’t count as the match was decided on penalties,” he added.The Indo-Pak semi-final will now on tomorrow 13-12-14 in an attacking game of hockey and India’s stunning comeback from 0-2 down saw them topple the world No. 4 Belgium 4-2 in the fourth quarterfinal on Thursday.No one gave the three-time champions a chance in hell or heaven to beat the Dutch who topped Pool B and were unbeaten so far in the tournament. But Pakistan proved once again how dangerously they can blow hot and cold.
Breathtaking hockey at the Kalinga Stadium followed ecstatic scenes on and off the pitch as India came from behind to beat world No. 4 Belgium in the FIH Men’s Champions Trophy on Thursday to set up a date with arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-finals.
It was Indian resilience that came to the fore as after initial hiccups they looked like playing for an outright victory instead of going through the agony of another penalty shootout like the Asian Games final. And they did it from 0-2 down.
Belgium took the lead in the 12th min through Felix Denayer, and then doubled it in the 18th through Sebastien Dockier. But that point on, it was Team India that left it’s mark on the game from the second quarter onwards, which saw an open game of hockey from both the teams.
Hockey: India beat Belgium 4-2 in Champions Trophy quarter-final to set up a semifinal clash with Pakistan.
Drag-flicker Rupinderpal Singh pulled one back for the hosts in the 18th min, which lifted the spirits of the team and another full house in the stadium.
Belgium were left stunned when India scored the equaliser three minutes from half-time through SK Uthappa’s deflection, and when Akashdeep Singh tapped home to make it 3-2 in the 41st min, the crowd crossed its fingers. Pakistan beckons!
It’s not easy to hold onto a one-goal lead in modern hockey, and India desperately searched for the cushion, which arrived in the 49th minute through Man-of-the-Match Dharamvir Singh.
Sreejesh, though letting two past him, started off well by saving two back-to-back penalty corners in the 8th min, but he couldn’t stop Denayer on the visitors’ third PC. That was the goal separating the two teams at the end of first quarter.
The Belgium defence was joining in the midfielders, and at times forwards, nicely to suffocate India in defence. And that’s how the second goal came about through Dockier in a field effort.
India regrouped nicely in the second quarter despite conceding an early goal as they answered back the same minute through Rupinder’s rocket flick that beat Vincent Vanasch in the Belgian goal.
And 2-2, via a deflection from Uthappa off VR Raghunath’s slap from outside the 25-yard line, was much better than 2-1 to go into half-time.
In the last 20 minutes, India opened the game up, which brought up frequent counters and the Belgian defence buckled under that pressure to concede two more goals.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s unexpected entry into the semi-finals came at the cost of tournament favourites Netherlands, whom they beat 4-2.
Semi-finals line-up for Saturday
First: Australia vs Germany
Second: India vs Pakistan
