Action Day Three witnessed plenty of action and the competition in Kuala Lumpur has really hot up. So much so the vanquished ones win most hearts than the victors. Not to be lost sight of on Sunday is the fact that the three teams won on a solitary goal margin, while the fourth match, a recap of Manchester European Nations Cup finals, turned out to be an exciting stuff.
Hitherto winless Spain came alive timely, and cornered a point from the tough Dutch before the British managed their first victory in three outings, frustrating the holiday crowd. In the third match on the other pitch, the Koreans were distinctly unlucky not to draw against Germany, their goal that came virtually in the last few seconds before the hooter, being disallowed by the umpire. However, the match of the day merit should go to the last contest of the day, the one between the clinical Aussies and vibrant Pakistan.
Pakistan has virtually come here, rather forced to come here, as underdogs. The controversy of the Chief Coach Islahuddin Siddique himself could not find a place was not to be missed. But the sports’ inherent trait is such that the major issues before the tournaments vanish once the players determined to talk through action. This is what we observe here, of course with wonderment, on the Pakistan’s sudden and sweet metamorphosis.
Pakistan’s wingers Waqas Sharif and Hayder Abbas, together with the agile centre-forward Shakeel Abbasi might have stolen the eyeballs, with their great display of athleticism, but the large chunk of the credit for their creditable performance should go to the defence where Zeeshan Ashraff is yet to put his stick wrong even once in three matches.
Pakistan’s forwards showed a clean pair of heels to their defenders, and were difficult to contain. Their pleasing runs, energy and enthusiasm against the precise Australians exemplified the hockey’s own cocktail of precision against exuberance. Both the Aussies goals came as a result of their meticulous use of set pieces, here the free hit deflection, the first one from the right flank close to goal line and the other, the ultimate winner, from the top of circle in the next session of play. Pakistan’s equalizer, a counter attack, caught the Aussies unawares and was how the vintage Pakistanis used to score on the cleaver use of speed. The end result 2-1 was befitting the field proceedings. Aussie’s bugbear, penalty corner conversion, refuse to fade away, even after three matches.
Spain took the lead twice after conceding an early goal, but could not contain the marauding Dutch coming from behind to squeeze in the equalizer (3-3) in the 54th minute. The Netherlands’ coach, the old fox Roelant Oltmans’ game plan seems to hinge on early goal in the opening spells of both sessions of play. On Sunday too, like in previous two games, his forwards scored a goal within ten minutes of each session. Despite their two wins and a draw, Dutch are not looking formidable. Today they conceded two solo goals and their goalkeeper, Guus Vogels, was frank enough to admit: “We were in a hurry to press for goals, with a result our midfield opened up”.
Germans should get that epithet. The wounded lions – the reigning World Cup champions are yet to qualify for the Olympics due to Manchester Disaster – are roaring. They are the only team with three straight wins, though lucky to have light weight rivals in the in the first two matches.
Great Britain is definitely slow, sluggish in distribution of the ball, and the long holding of the ball are certain grey areas their coach Simon Lee has to immediately focus despite getting three points against the hosts today.