KARACHI: The victory against South Africa took Pakistan’s points tally to seven from four matches. World champions Australia and hosts Great Britain are also on seven points, but are scheduled to play their fourth preliminary league match later in the day.
South African men’s hockey coach Gregg Clark was clearly frustrated after his side let victory slip through their fingers against Pakistan in their Group A clash at the London Olympic Games on Sunday.
“Pakistan had to win against lowly-ranked South Africa to stay in the race for the hockey semi-finals and did well to gain three more points in their group,” says former captain Islahuddin Siddiqui.
Australia on paper is a strong side, but not invincible as Argentina had managed to play a 2-2 draw against them while Pakistan is more than capable of taking one step further by beating them. The players had got the potential and hunger but they have to fully focus on the task ahead and play their natural attacking game.
“Going into the competition with one goalkeeper will remain a major blunder as Imran makes one mistake after another but cannot be replaced for there being no option. One of South Africa’s goals happened when Imran cleared the ball and their forward stopped it to send it right in again.”
“When a goalkeeper clears the ball, he is to send it sideways, left or right, but Imran was technically wrong in pushing it out at 90 degrees where the forward was ready to score on rebound,” Islah pointed out.
“Now Pakistan have to win their last group match with Australia to reach the semi-finals. In case of a draw, the matter of moving into the last four will depend on the goals scored by the teams,” he added.
Pakistan will play their final group match against Australia tomorrow.
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