Asian Champions Trophy 2018: India's victory over South Korea looks like a dull film with a superb cast of stars

For a team so intrinsically built on momentum and a series of fast pbades, India still needed a little luck, Harmanpreet Singh's hat trick on penalty corner conversions and a brilliant high pbad to split a 4-1 win over a South Korean team that has seen better days. India was still doing well with this draw and draw with Malaysia. And while his coach, Harendra Singh, criticized his forwards for not being in the right place at the right time, the match against South Korea was improved, but we had the feeling of watching a dull movie with a large distribution.

These are not critical times; but to look at the Indian side with its traditional yo-yoing consistency, the coach has to grasp the problem through the neck skin. India occupies the top of the points table with 13 points and Malaysia can catch them if it beats Pakistan. But India with a better goal difference will surely be ahead of the pool and so, according to all calculations, will eventually play Japan in the semifinals.

India's players celebrate a goal against South Korea. Image Courtesy: Twitter @TheHockeyIndia

For those who have seen South Korean teams over the past two decades culminating in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games silver medal, it's only a matter of time. was acting on an amateurish side. The slide in Korean fortunes was perplexed. The absence of a leading coach is one of many factors, among which is the dwindling talent pool. Until Kim Sang-Ryul was there, Korean hockey was one of the top six tactical teams and had been in that position for almost ten years. The pace was the weapon of Korea with solid dominance in the middle of the field and a game without error. Korea managed to hold India in the second and third quarters and also scored a goal in the second quarter. In the 3rd quarter, they played resolutely in midfield since India, for reasons that they knew only for themselves, stopped the air pbades and returned to the defender position 6- 8.

The start of the match was brilliant because India had a corner. in the fifth minute and Harmanpreet Singh was on target. India invaded the Koreans in the next five minutes – Akashdeep Singh flamed up, Mandeep Singh failed to hook a center and Dilpreet Singh was again a little hasty.

Just when India seemed a little disappointed after a flurry of endless moves, Harmanpreet created a sensational pbad in the sky. Most of the players were caught grouped roughly in the middle of the Indian court when Harmanpreet led the ball to his left and saw Gurjant, the only striker inside the Korean hitting circle. . He had only to trap him, go up a little to his left and let out a shot that the Korean goalkeeper could only watch. It was a fantastic goal that should have made the other players beat. Goals like these create great dynamics, change the course of matches and allow players even deformed to play like wizards.

At the end of the 1st quarter, India was still struggling in midfield as Korea rebuilt itself in the match. . In the 20th minute, Korean captain Seungil Lee was found at the right corner of the Indian hitting circle. Moving to PR Sreejesh would have reduced the angle. Lee did the next best thing. He fired an upward shot that slipped into the corner of the Indian goal. Sreejesh was rooted on the spot, caught completely off guard by Lee's opportunism.

Korea played well after Lee's goal. They held the ball and did not let a lot of mistakes slip into the Indian defense. They occupied the Indian defense where Surender, Varun and Harmanpreet had a good exit. At the end of the second quarter, there were nine entries in India, compared with five in Korea;

Korea was slightly more aggressive in the 3rd quarter, cutting through the Indian midfielder to badault the defense and pushing back one of those movements coming from the right flank, they scored with the ball across the legs. Krishan Pathak, a stupid goal to concede for any goalkeeper. India meanwhile has referred and the video referee has overturned the decision. Pathak and India were breathing gently.

Korea then had its second PC, which was pulled out. Both teams tried to make a decisive breakthrough. The most troubling part of the game in India has always been the sporadic brilliance with significant pieces of mediocrity that creep up when raising one's level is what good teams do. Manpreet Singh had a great chance when Gurinder pbaded the ball in the middle of the Korean circle. Manpreet grabbed his back on the goal and tried to kick the ball between his legs. But the Korean defense has cleared.

India has reinforced aggression in the 4th quarter. Jarmanpreet made some solo descents on the right flank. Manpreet, playing slightly on the right side, created some movements, Gurjant constantly threatening inside the Korean circle. India scored two consecutive PCs and Harmanpreet scored his second goal of the match while India led 3-1. Jarman was awarded the Green Card, a region that India really needs to watch, even though in the match against Pakistan she did not have a card. Korea managed a 3rd PC after a Surender pbad on Kim JungHoo but Pathak was alert and made a great save. While there was about three minutes remaining in the match, Korea pulled out the goalkeeper and sent the ball back.

India was pushing harder and Mandeep was literally attacked by a Korean half-back. Harmanpreet propelled the resulting PC for its tripled while India led 4-1. The hat trick of Harmanpreet would give him the necessary confidence for the semifinal to come, most likely against Japan, which currently occupies the 4th place. In the last ten meetings with Korea, India has won six with four draws. In fact, at the 2017 Asian Cup in Dhaka, Korea led until the last minute before India found the equalizer for a 1-1 draw. The biggest margins of victory were 4-1, 5-3 (GA, 2018) and 3-0 (CM, 2014).

India would be prepared for the semi-finals with a gap of two days, leaving much to be desired. needed space for the team to snuggle and develop plans for the knockout matches. Each player knows the importance of the tournament keeping in mind the next World Cup. Perhaps the momentum, speed and fast hockey played at the Champions Trophy, Breda takes a little longer to disappear. Or, constant DIY also hits players and coaches. The inspiration sometimes comes from the inside. For that, all that the team has to do is go back to the delightful center of Harmanpreet, followed by Gurjant's brilliant goal.