Asian Champions Trophy: It's India’s forwards vs South Korea’s defensive wall in the semi-finals

When India met Korea in their second league encounter during the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy, the latter happily conceded possession to Roelant Oltmans’ men by lining up in a defensive formation.

The strategic move by the Koreans meant India enjoyed overwhelming possession in the first quarter. India had more circle penetrations and shots on the target during the most part of the game.

Despite the Sreejesh-led side holding almost all the possession in the first 15 minutes, it was South Korea, who drew first blood in the 11th minute to take a 1-0 lead. India only managed to equalise three minutes into the third quarter through Lalit Upadhyay as the contest ended in a 1-1 draw.

It will again be a contest between Indian forwards and Korean defence when the two teams face off in the first semi-final at Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in Kuantan, Malaysia on Saturday.

Going purely by the round robin results, India would have preferred any other opponent in the penultimate stage, considering they won every match in the league stage except for the one against South Korea.

While Japan and China stood no chance against the continental giants, the reigning Asian champions got the better of arch-rivals Pakistan and Malaysia without much trouble.

South Korea were the only opponents who used India’s fragile defence to their advantage and even succeeded in tying up their strikers by building an impenetrable defensive wall whenever they tried to break free.

And come Saturday, they will again pose a big challenge before rampaging India, who finished eighth in the recently-concluded Rio Olympics in August.

India hold the edge

Since the 2013 edition of Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, India have met South Korea nine times, winning five matches, losing two and drawing a couple of games. The only knockout match they have lost since then is the 2013 Asia Cup final.

These records make India favourites going into the semi-final, but these numbers do not necessarily mean the outing will be easy for Roelant Oltmans’ team. Their forwards need to be on their toes to cash in on every opportunity that comes their way while defenders need to be extra vigilant to thwart any move the opponents attempt in their space.

India’s first-choice goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will be back on Saturday. A squad member in Malaysia confirmed to Scroll that the captain, who was rested for the last two games to help him recover from a foot injury, will play the knockout match on Saturday.

Reserve goalkeeper Akash Chikte replaced the Kerala lad in the last two league matches against China and Malaysia. Chikte might have been jittery in his first full-time outing against China, but the way he stood his ground and gloved away the penalty corner with 35 seconds remaining in India’s last match against Malaysia, was enough for his team to run the clock down.

‘Forwards must create opportunities’

Olympian Rahul Singh, who represented India at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, sounded optimistic and held India favourites going into the semi-final but also insisted that the Indian forwards should play an attacking game and create penalty-corners for drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh.

“Rupinder has been the leading scorer in the tournament so far. He was in terrific form against Japan and Malaysia. His conversion against Pakistan was breathtaking. What our forwards need to do is play attacking hockey and create opportunities for short corners,” said Singh to Scroll.

Speaking about South Korea’s defensive tactics, the hockey Olympian says, “Most of the teams play such hockey (defensive) these days as no team likes to concede goal and go down in the game. Teams rely on counter attacks given the game’s fast-paced nature these days. So India should also step up their defence and convert half-chances into goals if they wish to win the semi-final.”

Will there be an India vs Pakistan final?

Defending champions Pakistan will take on Malaysia in the second semi-final on Saturday. The hosts looked unstoppable till drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh’s brace helped India edge past them and broke their winning momentum. The loss followed a 1-1 draw against Korea. Malaysia would have loved to go into the knockout phase with a win but a loss and a draw mean they now have to regroup again to face Pakistan, who can never be taken lightly.

They might have stunned Pakistan 4-2 in the tournament opener but it will be a totally different ball game when they take on the Fareed Ahmed-led team in the semifinal.

Pakistan have been the most successful team in the tournament winning the coveted trophy twice in the last three editions. Their past exploits will certainly help them put a better fight when they take the turf against Malaysia. If they manage to go past the hosts and India succeed in penetrating South Korea’s defence, then the final on Sunday will be a mouth-watering clash for hockey aficionados of both the countries.

Form Guide

India

• Top ranked India, who are 6th in FIH Rankings, are unbeaten in the event and have taken 13 points from their group games to sit at the top of points table
• They have conceded six goals in the tournament and have scored 25 in their five matches so far
• Rupinder Pal Singh has been the leading scorer for them sounding the board ten times so far

South Korea:

• South Korea finished fourth in the group stages, after conceding a last-minute goal to Malaysia in the their final game
• Ranked 11th in the world, South Korea have scored 11 goals in the competition so far

Quote:

“Korea have an extremely well-drilled and organised defensive structure, and they rely on that in their games. We already have experience of seeing how suffocating their play can be, and it is a challenge for us. We will have to be more clinical in the final third against them and we have shown that we can be so in our games so far. It should be a good encounter,” said Roelant Oltmans, India’s chief coach.