The Indian midfield was the star of the match
Ranchi
The battle of table-toppers was anticipated to be an in depth affair and it performed out as such earlier than India edged previous Japan 2-1 on Tuesday in a repeat of the Asian Games bronze-medal match to stay the one unbeaten aspect on the Jharkhand Asian Champions Trophy.
It was a cagey affair that noticed neither workforce in a position to utterly take management. While India loved extra possession, it was let down by erratic ending and incapacity to shut down the Japanese. Playing a excessive press sport looking for an early benefit, India stored shifting into the opposition circle however couldn’t get the ultimate contact.
The Indian midfield was the star of the match, continually creating area and turnovers and stealing possession each time the ball was misplaced, solely to seek out the strikers both off place or unable to regulate contained in the D. The Japanese defence was tight, their tackling clear and even goalmouth melees didn’t end in penalty corners for India.
Japan, then again, stayed true to its construction, spreading out and advancing via the flanks, enjoying sensible as a substitute of onerous or quick. The few possibilities it received via the primary half-hour have been all goal-oriented with clear trapping and passing however the finish outcome was a goalless first half.
India’s makes an attempt at going aerial put up the break appeared to make a distinction and shortly after resumption, Navneet Kaur’s highly effective hit from the highest of the circle beat everybody in a crimson shirt to hit the board. It took simply six minutes for Japan to transform its third penalty nook to degree scores.
It was a battle of attrition and because the sport progressed, India gave the impression to be dropping the persistence to remain composed whilst Japan steadily crept up, accelerating in the direction of the tip of each quarter.
Three penalty corners on the trot lastly noticed India get the winner via Deepika however Japan continued to press, testing the Indian defence until the tip that managed to only about maintain on.
Earlier, Malaysia managed to maintain China quiet for the primary quarter-hour earlier than the latter struck thrice within the second quarter to win 4-0 whereas Korea gained 3-0 in opposition to Thailand.
The outcomes:
Korea 3 (Yujin Lee, Cheyoung Jung, Seungae Park) bt Thailand 0.
China 4 (Jiaqi Zhong 3, Meirong Zou) bt Malaysia 0.
India 2 (Navneet Kaur, Deepika) bt Japan 1 (Kana Urata).
