Pakistan hockey team have been knocked out of the ongoing Asia Cup after India’s 16-0 win against Indonesia, which means the Men in Green will not be able to qualify for next year’s FIH Hockey World Cup.
After a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Japan in the group match earlier today, Pakistan had lost a golden chance to qualify for the final four and were relying on India’s performance against a weak Indonesian side.
India, on the other hand, needed to win the game with a massive16-goal margin to make it to the semi-finals of the Asia Cup.
They managed to score as many goals in the game, knocking arch-rivals Pakistan out of the ongoing tournament and the upcoming World Cup with a superior goal difference.
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Pakistan had defeated Indonesia 13-0 on Tuesday and played a well-fought draw against India earlier in the tournament.
The four teams to qualify for the semi-finals are India, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan had a golden opportunity to snatch a draw against Japan as their third and equalizing goal was overruled by the referee due to Pakistan fielding an extra man.
As for the Men in Green, they showed a sign of improvement during the 2022 Asia Cup under the new head coach, Siegfried Aikman. The overall gameplay of the team drastically improved while they lacked the final touch to put the ball in the back of the net regularly.