Hosts hope for Pak upset despite Japan thrashing

Following their valiant display in a 3-2 defeat against South Korea on Friday, the Bangladesh national hockey team reverted to type, suffering a 5-0 defeat against Japan in their third match of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy at the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium yesterday.

The charges of Iman Gobinathan Krishnamurthy, who started the campaign with a 9-0 defeat against India, kept Japan at bay in the first quarter before breaking down against the wave of Japanese attacks.

The men in red and green conceded two field goals, two goals from penalty corners and one from a penalty stroke. "Since we played a hard match yesterday, it might have caused fatigue on our players," Bangladesh captain Ashraful Islam said after the match.

The host nation, who lie bottom of the five-team table with zero points from three matches, still have a chance to make it to the semifinals if they manage to beat Pakistan in their last round robin match today.

Pakistan, who were held to a 3-3 draw by South Korea yesterday, have two points from three matches.

"Since both we and Pakistan are out of international hockey for a long time, I think we have a chance against Pakistan tomorrow. If we can play well and take our chances, we can come out with a positive result," Ashraful said. "We will watch video footages of Pakistan's matches tonight and we will try to find out their weaknesses to take advantage of those in the match," the Bangladesh captain added.

The match between Pakistan and South Korea proved to be a topsy-turvy affair.

Pakistan fought back from a goal down in the first quarter to take a 2-1 lead early in the third quarter but Korea bounced back and scored two in the final quarter to take a lead. 

However, Pakistan scored again with three minutes remaining to salvage a point from this fixture that left them in fourth position on the table. South Korea were in second position with six points from four matches. Japan occupied the third position with five points from three matches.