Asian Champions Trophy hockey, as it happened: Malaysia hold India to a goalless draw

HOOTER! Yep. Goalless draw it is. Not the best of the games played by both teams. India made 22 circle entries, yet they don’t have a goal. The team management will be bothered by that stat. India missed quite a few chances. Both teams stay unbeaten after this scrappy encounter.

Final quarter (1 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Third Penalty Corner of the night. Malaysia thwart the danger again. They make a rapid counterattack. But the forward loses balance upfront and the ball goes out.

Final quarter (3 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: ooh, Penalty Corner with less than three minutes to go. And... Malaysia successfully thwart the attempt. Harmanpreet takes a little too long to release the shot. This match is heading towards a goalless draw.

Final quarter (6 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Tajuddin Tengku gets a yellow card for bringing down Manpreet Singh. Could be a crucial moment in the match. Malaysia will be down to 10 men for the next five minutes.

Final quarter (8 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Both sides playing it safe in middle. India aren’t pressing hard enough. It’s as if both teams are sitting back to see who’ll err first.

Final quarter (12 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Superb move from the Indians to start the final quarter. Akashdeep and Mandeep combine well. But as the latter tries to pass the ball to Dilpreet, the Malaysian defence intervenes and clears the ball away.

THIRD QUARTER STATS:-

End of third quarter, India 0-0 Malaysia: Alright then, we are down to the last 15 minutes. Both teams are solid in their defence. The Indian attack, however, hasn’t been at its best tonight. India have been the better side so far. But they don’t have a goal to show.

Third quarter (2 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: A scramble near the Malaysian goalmouth. Will this result in a Penalty Corner? No, it doesn’t. Free-hit for Malaysia.

Third quarter (5 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: India look a little more in control the last three minutes or so. They are upping the ante. Malaysia’s under pressure now.

Third quarter (8 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: India have made eight mistraps to Malaysia’s seven. Not a lot of chances created in this quarter.

Third quarter (10 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: India have 13 circle entries to Malaysia’s five. India’s analytical coach Chris Ciriello yells “PRESSURE, PRESSURE” from the sideline.

Third quarter (12 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Both teams giving the possession away. The quality of the game hasn’t improved much from the last quarter.

FIRST HALF STATS:-

End of second quarter, India 0-0 Malaysia: Both teams weren’t at their best in the second quarter. Harendra Singh would be disappointed about the opportunities missed in both quarters. He’d hope his team would put up a better show in the second half.

Second quarter (2 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Faizal Saari makes a spirited run for Malaysia but he cannot get past the Indian defence.

Second quarter (4 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: The second phase of this match has, thus far, looked scrappy. Both teams looking a little tight. The passing’s not even as smooth as it was in the first quarter.

Second quarter (8 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: A few seconds of mediocre play by both teams. Wrong passes, failed interceptions. Both teams still in the hunt for the first goal.

Second quarter (10 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: India’s got possession alright. But they haven’t been at their best inside the opposition circle today.

Second quarter (13 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: A few balls not trapped well. These ‘tiny’ errors will irk Harendra. Might make all the difference in crucial matches. Sreejesh’s yelling instructions from the goalpost.

First quarter (1 minute to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Another close shave! Mandeep gets the ball just outside the Malaysian circle. He flicks the ball, trying to find the right top corner of the net. But the flick’s a little too hard, the ball flies wide.

First quarter (2 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Chinglensana cuts in superbly from the midfield, goes left as he enters the Malaysian circle. Tries to find Mandeep. But the Malaysian defenders rush in to take the ball away from Chinglensana.

First quarter (5 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: First Penalty Corner for India. Harmanpreet flicks it down the centre. The Malaysian ‘keeper is not troubled much. There was power in that shot but it was straight at the ‘keeper.

First quarter (7 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: MISS! The Malaysian defender fails to trap an aerial ball, he inadvertently deflects it to Dilpreet inside the circle. Dilpreet aims for the far-right corner of the net but misses.

First quarter (10 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Faizal Saari does well to cross the midfield, almost breaches the Indian circle. But he’s been intercepted there.

First quarter (13 minutes to go), India 0-0 Malaysia: Malaysia holding the ball for sometime at the start. India try to sneak into the Malaysian circle and put the opposition under pressure. But the Malaysian defence clears it without much ado.

10:39 pm National anthems done. We are a few seconds away from the start...

Squads

India: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh (Captain), Sumit Nilakanta Sharma Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice Captain).

Malaysia: Kumar Subramaniam, Hairi Rahman, Hassan Najib, Sumantri Norsyafiq, Jalil Marhan, Joel van Huizen, Faizal Saari, Syed Cholan, Sukri Mutalib (Captain), Firhan Ashari, Amirol Arshad, Noor Nabil, Jalil Faiz, Hassan Azri, Hasan Azuan, Tajuddin Tengku, Nik Rozemi, Saabah Shahril

10:20 pm

India’s record against Malaysia in the last five games:-

10:10 pm Good evening, those of you who are stayin’ up late to catch the men in blue take on Malaysia. Of course, we all know what happened the last time these two teams met. India, the better-ranked team and the one with a superior head-to-head record, went down in a thrilling shootout. That defeat cost them the gold medal chance at the Asian Games and denied them a direct qualification for the Olympics. Tonight, Manpreet and Co would want to avenge that defeat. Of course, there isn’t a lot at stake but coach Harendra Singh would want his boys to clinch the title with a perfect record.