KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistan men’s hockey team on Wednesday, stormed into the FIH Nations Cup semi-final despite Malaysia’s victory over Japan in the last Pool B match, held here at the National Hockey Stadium.
The green shirts earlier played their last league-stage match against New Zealand and suffered a narrow 4-3 defeat, which put them languishing on the outcome of the subsequent fixture.
Malaysia, placed third in the standings with one point and a goal difference of negative one after two matches, needed to beat Japan by a margin of two goals to topple Pakistan’s goal difference to secure second spot, which would have earned them semi-final qualification.
Although they managed to beat Japan 2-1, it meant that their goal difference could not surpass that of Pakistan, who joined New Zealand from Pool B to reach the final four.
The green shirts will now face Pool A leaders France in the first semi-final on Friday, while New Zealand and Korea will lock horns in the other knockout fixture later that day.
The final of the eight-team tournament will be played on Saturday.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan’s opening match of the tournament, against Malaysia, ended in a 3-3 draw, despite Pakistan taking the lead twice during the game.
Ahmed Nadeem and Abdul Rehman gave Pakistan an early edge with two quick goals in the first quarter, allowing them to enter the final quarter with a solid 2-0 lead.
However, Malaysia responded strongly in the fourth quarter, scoring twice in quick succession through Fitri Saari and Syed Cholan to level the score.
Pakistan briefly regained the lead when Rana Waheed Ashraf found the net, but Malaysia equalized just two minutes later as Cholan struck again, scoring his second goal of the match to make it 3-3.
In their second outing, the Men in Green edged past Japan 3-2 in a thrilling encounter, mounting a comeback after trailing 2-1 to clinch a hard-fought victory.
