Harendra wants India to be aggressive against Japan
NEWDELHI: Defending champions India have emerged the team to beat by finishing at the top of standings in the Asian Champions Trophy. The Indian team will be favourites against Asian Games gold medallist Japan in the semi-finals at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on Saturday.
India thrashed Japan 9-0 during the pool stage. With four victories and one draw, the Manpreet Singh-led outfit is unbeaten in the six-team tournament. In the other semi-final, two-time champions Pakistan will be up against Malaysia.
The Harendra Singh-coached side has so far fired in 27 goals in five contests while conceding only two, one each against archrivals Pakistan and South Korea.
However, Harendra has not been entirely pleased with the performance. Chinks in the armour, especially upfront were exposed during the 0-0 draw against a competitive Malaysia, have left Harendra a tad worried. He wants his team to play aggressive hockey. “I would like my boys to play aggressive hockey with control over their emotions. The semi-final will be a different ball game. The result or score-line of our last encounter with Japan in the preliminary league will have no significance when the semi-final gets underway on Saturday.”
Strikers like Mandeep Singh have come to the fore, having scored five goals so far. Mandeep hit two crucial goals against Pakistan and also scored a hat-trick against Japan. Dilpreet Singh has also put his name on the board regularly with four goals so far. Two-time champions India can also take heart from the penalty corner conversion rate with Harmanpreet Singh being in top form. The dragflicker scored a hat-trick against South Korea on Wednesday, which they won 4-1. With six goals in the tournament, Harmanpreet is also the top goal scorer. Japan just managed to scrape into the semis by beating hosts Oman 5-0 on Thursday to finish fourth in the table.