By Shahid Khan
China stunned Pakistan 2-0 in the penalty-shootout to enter the Final of Hero Asian Champions Trophy here at the Moqi Hockey Training Base in Hulunbuir, China.
At the end of regulation time in the semi final the score stood at 1-1 which led to the penalty shoot-out.
China scored their first two shuttles whereas Chinese goalkeeper kept a clean sheet from the Green shirts attempts. Pakistan’s custodian managed to save the opponents third shuttle but they succumbed to defeat when their attempt once again failed to materialise.
This will be the first time in the history of the tournament that the Chinese national team has made it to the title round while the second highest number of title winners Pakistan will play for the Bronze medal against South Korea on Tuesday.
Green shirts who had empathetically defeated the host country 5-1 in their pool match dominated ball possession and created early chances however the first quarter remained goalless.
Chinese team buoyed by the full capacity partisan supporters took the lead through Yuanlin’s powerful drag flick at their first penalty corner in the 18th minute.
Although Pakistan earned five penalty corners in the 2nd quarter they were unable breach the Chinese defence.
Nadeem Ahmed brought the teams on level terms in with his tomahawk strike which left the Chinese goalkeeper stranded 7 minutes into the 3rd quarter.
China Head Coach Jin Seung Yoo, who was a former player for Korea, said that ‘the test games between the two teams before the tournament were vital in our the preparations for the game’.
They played a disciplined game, tackled Pakistani attackers with strong man-to-man marking to ensure they didn't create scoring opportunities. Though Pakistan made a handful of circle entries in the following minutes in the third and the fourth quarter, China restricted their shots on goal quite effectively to keep the scoreline at 1-1 stalemate.
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