The game is not over till it’s over!
The 19th Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup has entered into the final stages. Saturday is going to be the final day of the league stages, where the two finalists will be decided. A 2-2 draw between the Kookaburras and South Korea on Thursday has left the tournament wide open with five teams in contention for a place in the final.
Defending Champion’s India has so far performed with a lot of energy. The blend of experience and youth has rewarded team India with a strong chance to make it to the final. India has played five matches, won three of them, lost one and ended their group stage with a draw. Malaysia has completed the six round-robin matches with three victories and two draws. The Kookaburras, the Green shirts and the South Koreans are all sharing the same pedestal with five matches played, two wins, one defeat and two draws.
The tournament has seen some surprising performances by the underdog teams playing in Malaysia. Both India and Pakistan, who were coming from a drubbing in the just concluded World Cup, have surprisingly performed well. India defeated Australia while Pakistan levelled its league match against World Champions.
So far, a total of 100 goals have been scored with Pakistan leading with 22 goals. Malaysia has converted 17 goals; the South Koreans and the Aussies have made 16 successful shots on goal while India has scored 14 goals in the tournament.
The maximum number of goals scored by a team in one game is six so far. The Koreans enjoyed their biggest victory margin of the tournament with a 6-0 win against Egypt. Pakistan also won both its matches against the Chinese and the Egyptians with a thumping margin of 6-2.
Malaysia has completed its fixtures and is leading the table with 11 points while India is breathing behind their backs with 10 points with one more match to go against Egypt on Saturday. South Korea (3rd), Pakistan (4th) and Australia (5th) have eight points each from their allotted five games.
The home team had to beat China to strengthen their chances to make it to the final. However, a very defensive Chinese team succeeded in keeping the score down. At the moment, the Malaysians will have to wait till tomorrow to know if they can make it to their first final on home turf. The Aussies, South-Koreans and Pakistan are still in contention for places in the final and most probably it would boil down to goal difference and goal aggregate in the end
Three matches are scheduled for tomorrow. Bottom-placed Egypt is expected to be an easy prey for India. Meanwhile, South Korea and Pakistan will be up against each other while Australia will take on China in the last match. Goals are going to play a vital role on who goes to the final. Australia, which has 8 points in the kitty will now need to beat China in their last round-robin match on Saturday by a big margin in order to improve their goal difference
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