Asia Cup: India scrape past Japan, qualify for Super 4s

RAJGIR: Rajgir woke up to an exceedingly raging and humid sun. The amerind and nipponese players had dreaded playing in the afternoon. But as the day progressed, there was a cloud cover protecting the 22 men on the turf at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium here.

The weather had improved. So did India’s performance, albeit only marginally. Extremely porous and rusty in their Asia Cup Pool A opener against China on Friday – they won 4-3 – the Harmanpreet Singh-led squad produced a better show to beat Japan 3-2 and qualify for the Super 4s.

Though the hosts defended better, allowing fewer circle penetrations, they also missed many open field goal opportunities which on any other day would have been converted by the India forwards. Both Mandeep Singh and Abhishek, very reliable strikers, missed easy chances as well as rebounds which if converted would have boosted India’s scoreline and confidence.

Skipper Harmanpreet Singh, who scored a hat-trick in the opener, was in flow again to score a brace (5th, 46th) after Mandeep (4th) had got India off the mark. Kosei Kawabe (38th, 59th) scored a brace for Japan. “The first priority has been achieved, but we still need to do better and when it clicks it will come,” India chief coach Craig Fulton said.

India made a strong start, scoring twice in succession in the first five minutes to assert their dominance. Forward Sukhjeet Singh collected the ball and played a perfect pass to Mandeep who beat his marker in front of goal and finished.

In the next minute, India won their first penalty corner (PC) and after two retakes, Harmanpreet fired a powerful shot that struck Japanese goalkeeper Takashi Yoshikawa’s foot and went in, doubling the home side’s lead.

Desperate to get off the mark, Japan counterattacked and earned a PC. Fortunately for the hosts, it came to nothing. The world No.18 outfit improved their display in the second quarter but India’s defence ensured the lead remained intact.

Japan won their second PC (24th) but defender Jarmanpreet Singh saved it on the line and cleared it away for three more retakes. All of them were saved by a resolute Vivek Sagar Prasad. As Amit Rohidas had been shown a green card, Prasad took over as the first rusher, brilliantly taking blows on his legs to maintain a clean slate for India.

But Japan finally found their goal in the third quarter as Kawabe did well to collect a pass inside the circle and unleashed an angular shot, finding the bottom right corner past India goalie Krishan Pathak, who was playing his 150th international.

Following the goal, Japan had a spring in their step as they started attacking in search of an equaliser, but India ensured they controlled possession to not give away another goal. On the other hand, it was India who restored the two-goal lead when Harmanpreet scored through Yoshikawa’s legs.

India’s second goalkeeper Suraj Karkera was brilliant in the final quarter, making two acrobatic saves during a PC. In the dying moments, Kawabe struck his second after he won the ball on the rebound, scoring past Karkera to reduce the deficit. Harmanpreet was given a yellow card in the final minute but 10-man India held their ground till the end.

India play their final group match against Kazakhstan on Monday, which will be well into the evening. “It will make a big difference. You don’t really play in such hot weather and humidity, it’s really tough. It was a good challenge,” Fulton said.

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