Bangladesh put 10 past Oman
Bangladesh made light work of Oman to move into the semifinals of the 4th U-18 Asia Cup Hockey Tournament with a massive 10-0 win in the last match of Pool A at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday.
With second win in as many matches, Bangladesh emerged Pool A champions, setting up a semifinal clash against Chinese Taipei, who held China to a 2-2 draw to finish runners-up in their Pool B match yesterday. Pakistan emerged Pool B champions after thrashing Hong Kong 14-0 yesterday, and they will take on Pool A runners-up India in last four. Both the semifinals will be held on Thursday.
Buoyed by their 5-4 win over India, Bangladesh barely gave Oman any space and established full control with all-out attack. Bangladesh got seven field goals through Mohammad Mohsin (three), Fazle Rabbi (two) and one apiece from Mahabub Hossain and Arshad Hossain -- while the three other goals came from the stick of penalty corners converted by Ashraful Islam.
The home side wasted little time in taking the lead as Mahabub started the onslaught with a fierce hit from inside the circle in the fourth minute before Arshad doubled the lead three minutes later, connecting the ball brilliantly in the air.
With captain Roman Sarker and Arshad causing havoc down the flanks, the forwards joined the goal fest. At the other end, goalkeeper Yeasin Arafat stood tall and foiled Oman's penalty corners to successfully keeping a clean sheet.
While the limelight on the opening day was on Ashraful, it yesterday shifted to Mohsin who scored twice before the break and one after the break to be adjudged the match-of-the-match. Ashraful, however, grabbed three goals from penalty corners with his powerful drag-and-flick shots.
After resumption, Bangladesh seemingly took their feet off the gas in a bid to preserve energy for the semifinal, but Oman were unable to take advantage of that and conceded three more goals.
“We did not have any worries regarding Oman and we were asked to shrug off all the pressure and give our best during the team meeting. We did exactly that on the turf,” said Mohsin after receiving his match-of-the-match award.
“Actually we did not allow them to play in the second half; we rather played individually to prepare ourselves for the semifinal battle. We are hoping to put up another collective performance on Thursday,” said Mohsin.
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