Lille: Veteran penalty-corner
specialist Sohail Abbas scored twice as Pakistan thrashed
Japan 3-1 in the finals of a Qualifying tourney to book a
berth in next year's Hockey World Cup in India.
Pakistan joined Australia, Canada, England, Germany,
Korea, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain in clinching a spot
in the mega-event.
Two more spots will go to the winner of the second
qualifying event, currently underway in Invercargill, New
Zealand. The third qualifying event will start next week in
Quilmes, Argentina.
Pakistan went on the offensive from the very start but
Japanese goalkeeper Katsuya Takase thwarted their initial
attempts.
After the aggressive start, Pakistan settled down and
tried to take control with Waseem Ahmed making his presence
felt in the midfield.
Pakistan opened the scoring through Abdul Haseem Khan in
the 12th minute after a decisive run by Shakeel Abbasi.
They maintained the pressure, but Japan did not give up
either and it took a penalty-corner in the 24th minute by the
ever-reliable Abbas to increase the lead.
Japan reduced the gap through a clever penalty-corner by
their captain Kazuhiro Tsubouchi, who flicked the ball out of
reach of Salman Akbar in the Pakistani goal.
Pakistan earned a penalty-stroke early in second period
but Abbasi put it wide and Japan nearly tied the game on their
immediate counter-attack.
The Japanese players were closing down on the Pakistani
attackers, preventing them from developing a fast game, but
they could not do anything when faced with another stunning
penalty-corner from Abbas that shaved the crossbar.
Even with a comfortable two-goal cushion, Pakistan were
not out of the wood and survived two penalty-corners and a
flurry of attacks by Japanese players.
In fact the final 10 minutes were played in the defensive
zone of Pakistan before the final buzzer assured them a place
in the World Cup.
Bureau Report