IPOH – Japan’s hockey head coach Yoshihiro Anai admitted that his tactics in overly focusing on stopping Pakistan from scoring through penalty corners cost his side a victory in their third fixture of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup today.
The fiery match between the table toppers ended in a 1-1 draw at the Azlan Shah Stadium.
Japan and Pakistan have clashed 28 times since the 1960 Rome Olympics, with Pakistan having a higher winning percentage of 46.43%.
The last time both sides met was at the Hangzhou Asian Games group stage, which ended with a 3-2 win for Japan.
Anai said that he should have come up with more variations for his attackers to emerge victorious against their opponents, ranked number 15 in the world.
“Today’s draw feels more like a defeat as our tactics went wrong since we were mainly focused on preventing Pakistan from getting penalty corners during the match.
“Scoring from penalty corners has been Pakistan’s identity over the years, and that was the reason why we were trying to stop them from punishing us.
“As a coach, I should have come up with more variations for my players in our attack, and that mistake also proved to be costly for the team in several parts of the game.
“But one thing I admire about my boys in today’s match is that we kept pressuring our opponents by running around the turf with our full stamina, and that helped us a lot in avoiding punishment from the Pakistanis,” said Anai during a post-match conference.
The opening goal of the match was scored by Japan’s Ken Nagayoshi in the 33rd minute through a penalty corner, while Rana Waheed Ashraf equalised for Pakistan in the 59th minute through a penalty corner.
Japan will take on defending champions Malaysia in their fourth match tomorrow, while Pakistan faces Canada on the same day. – May 7, 2024