India only had to draw to advance to the semifinals but they had a comfortable 2-0 win against China to set up a semi-final against hosts South Korea. However, the Indians will have to tick a lot of boxes before they dream of Asian Games gold and an easy passage to Rio Olympics.
From the start in the first quarter of their last league encounter, India started to press the Chinese team and had a few attacks but once again threw away possession too easily and the shots at goal were very ineffectual.
India, after the first 10 minutes, then played as if they will be happy with a draw. Sardar was playing so deep that any attempts at passing over a distance were intercepted and made for some forced attacks by China.
India, all the way through to the end of the second quarter, played the same way: hit and hope it gets into the circle. The Chinese tactics were to allow Gurbaj get the ball and block the middle of the field as his attempts to set up the strikers remained futile. With this style of play, no penalty corners were forced by either team and most attacks were poor attempts to score.
The second half saw a different Indian team coming out to play. Sunil had a good run down the right and forced a penalty corner in the second minute of the third quarter. VR Raghunath was off the field and the variation was easily stopped. Once again more hit and hope into the circle rather than some structured attempts to force corners or shots at goal from India kept the 0-0 deadlock intact.
The third quarter saw PR Sreejesh making a great save. This was China's best chance of the game at scoring a goal. This quarter saw China have more possession but India played better structure at the back. Raghunath received a ball near the 25-yard mark and then threw a scorching ball into the circle to force a corner and then scored a great PC goal, low right of the 'keeper.
China started to throw more players up front but good defence by India and poor skills up front from by China made it difficult to get shots away. Near the end of the quarter, Sardar finally was playing higher up the field and used his great skills to eliminate two Chinese players and set up defender Birender Lakra for a great field goal. It was interesting how well the goal was scored by a defender who values possession of the ball.
In the fourth quarter India forced a PC but a good flick by Raghunath was saved on the line by the Chinese defender. China went straight down and forced their own penalty corner but a great save again by Sreejesh kept a clean sheet for India.
After this Sardar started to again play a higher position and set up Akashdeep to force another PC. Raghunath flicked another rocket but it was again saved by the defender on the post. Midway through the last quarter, China forced another penalty corner that met another save from Sreejesh. As I had said earlier, it was important for Sreejesh to have a clean sheet and show that India's defence can be confident and hold against any of the teams in this tournament.
That now sets up a very hard game against South Korea in the semi-final. This will be real test for coach Terry Walsh to earn his money. There is no prize for coming second now. India has to win both games to take the easy road to the Olympics. South Korea are a formidable team and will also be desperate to win on home turf.
India need to step up their game, be a more mature team and stop wasteful opportunities as the Koreans won't give them any easy chances.
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