Greenshirts edge past China in second match of Asian Champions Trophy: 4-1 – Hockey Update
After making a brilliant start against Malaysia, the Greenshirts (Pakistan) have emerged victorious over the home team of China by three goals, 4-1 in the second match of the Asian Champions Trophy held at the Ordos Hockey Stadium in China.
Khawaja Junaid, the Manager of Pakistan Men’s hockey team in a quite pleased and expressed satisfaction over their tremendous performance. He further stated that the triumph will boost the morale of players and had an assist in the future games.
The Manager was of the opinion that the youngsters delivered an outstanding performance and made him ecstatic. He further stated that the team overall displayed a better show as compared to the first. He said, “It was a good match for us because our players,
especially the youngsters played really well. We played a close match against the Malaysians but today our team was in complete control and that’s a great sign ahead of tougher matches against India and Korea.”
Pakistan, the winner of the Asian Games is quite optimistic to qualify in the title-claiming match of the first version of the Asian Champions Trophy. The Greenshirts want to continue their tradition of winning the inaugural editions of the hockey tournaments,
as they had clinched the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.
The Greenshirts despite missing a few big names from the squad started the campaign on a high note and marked a victory against Malaysia which improved their confidence. In the second game against China, vice captain Shakeel Abbasi scored two times and earned
their second consecutive victory in the tournament.
Both teams are in a similar situation, as they are missing the services of some talented senior players. However, the two teams began the game in quite a slow pace and could only score one goal each in the first thirty-five minutes of the match.
Pakistan made improvements in the game-plan and executed better strategies in order to hold back the pressure throughout the two halves of play. The first half was filled with numerous attacks and counterattacks but many were blocked by the opposing side.
Shakeel Abbasi drew first blood through an amazing field effort and put the visitors ahead on the scoreboard. However, the lead did not last long, as China obtained a goal and evened the score at one-each at half-time.
The second half completely belonged to Pakistan which obtained three more brilliant goals while holding China goalless. Shakeel Abbasi accounted for his second goal while his team-mates Umer Bhutta and Shafqat Rasool added one apiece to seal their win at
4-1. Pakistan played a tremendous game and it will be interesting to see how they carry their winning momentum forward into their next match-up of the exciting tournament.
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