The Indian men completed a half-century of goals in their third game of the tournament, winning 8-0 against a clueless Japan in Pool A with an intensity that took everyone by surprise on Friday. This is the first time India has crossed 50 goals in the competition ever.
India was expected to win but not expected to come so hard at an opposition that was the first serious competition after two easy outings.
Coach Harendra Singh had said the Asian Games began for him from this game but going by the way the Indians attacked and disrupted Japan, he might well wait for Korea in the next game to get a true idea about his boys’ potential.
Dominant
Almost the entire game was played in the Japan half. Mandeep Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh scored a brace each while Vivek Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, S.V. Sunil and Dilpreet Singh scored one each.
The only chance Japan had was in the ninth minute of the game when, caught by surprise by an overhead ball to Kenta Tanaka, the Indians had to chase the striker all across the length of the field. He did try to wrong-foot the goalkeeper but P.R. Sreejesh was up to the task and parried the ball with his pads.
Other than that, it was all India, up 3-0 at half-time. The pace of the game saw Japan left scrambling to find a semblance of structure in its game but by the time it stabilised, it was all over.
