Rusty Indian colts paid heavily for lacking nerves while on crisis, and thus came crashing in the tour opener here in the Johor Sultan Under 21 Cup in Johor Bahru.
Korea mercilessly scored exactly a half-a dozen goals in one half, as if they are playing Hockey 9s, to not only equalize India’s four-goal lead in the first half, but also post two more to snatch what seemed at one point of time an Indian cakewalk.
Thus, the Koreans stake claim forcibly in the chase for the Johor Sultan Cup for the Under-21 boys.
Koreans were the deserving winners in the tournament opener (6-4). Indian forwards did a decent job in the first half, and then in the last ten minutes from the close. When they dominated in that late spell, they could not move the board up, failing to score goals in one to one situation.
Unfortunately for the Indian team, the tournament was played on traditional format, not on Hockey 9s. But that spirit was seen in Korean action in the second half, when they made use of even half chances.
Its change of strategy that worked wonders for Korea in the second session of play.
They came in waves, especially from right flank, in the second half. Whatever they did from there worked in the first ten minutes after resumption.
Two freehits, their tails were up. Doong Hyen Yoon was the miracle man, who easily beat Naveen Kumar all ends up. Just a minute before Korean bulwark in the back, captain Yang Ji Hun converted his team’s first penalty corner, as was the case when Sampath Kumar did the same to register tournament’s first goal in the fourth minute. India thereafter did not provide any chance to him to showcase his skills, but the Koreans otherwise did in ample measure.
The statistics is simple: India converted four penalty corners continuously, over all four out of five.
What were the Indian think tank doing? Change the goalkeeper after the first one oversaw his citadel getting punched five times. The new one had no time to settle, though seemed again shaky. Whatever, he could not have done anything better, as the damage has already been done, the goalkeepers cannot win the matches on their own.
Coach Mukesh Kumar conceded the team is under-prepared and also he could not handle everything without a second coach in the bench. He wants another coach to sit and assist him, but they have a manager there. Before that, its better he looks at the sequence below:
1-0 Sampat Kumar
2-0 Malak Singh
3-0 Malak Singh
4-0 Talwinder Singh
1-4 Yang Ji Hun
2-4Yoon Dong Hyeon
3-4 Yoon Dong Hyeon
4-4 Yang Ji Hun
4-5 Yang Ji Hun
4-6 Hwang Taeil
IN the other matches of the day, Pakistan went down to New Zealand 0-1 while Australia saw off Malaysia for a reasonable 2-1 win, the loser’s goal coming through a penalty corner taken after the hooter.
Tomorrow India will take on Australia