CHENNAI: Pakistan left the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium bitterly disappointed for the second successive day in the Asian Champions Trophy. The subcontinental giants, who showed flashes of brilliance in the 1-3 defeat to Malaysia on Thursday, once again failed to turn performance into a winning result.
Despite being ranked lower than Korea - World No.17 as against No.9 - they controlled the play for the majority of the match, but were forced to eventually settle for one point after a 1-1 draw.
Such was Pakistan's dominance that defending champions Korea had to toil till the end and required a penalty stroke to share the spoils. Talking after the match, Pakistan forward and 'Man of the Match' Abdul Shahid said: "It is good that we have opened our account, but we missed a lot of chances. We will look to improve in our attack."
Pakistan began the game on the front foot, but did not make the most of their dominance, missing two good chances in the first 10 minutes. Shahid was one of the culprits as he struck his shot wide from close range after the ball was put on a plate.
But he made amends in the 18th minute by being at the right place at the right time. Abdul Rana came up with a powerful pass across the face of goal from the left flank and an unmarked Shahid made no mistake this time. After missing another good opportunity, Pakistan headed into the breather with a slender 1-0 advantage.
Korea came close to levelling the score at the start of the third quarter when Jang Jonghyun's drag-flick from a penalty corner deflected off Pakistan goalkeeper Akmal Hussain and hit the near post. Behind with just 15 minutes left on the clock, Korea upped the ante in the final quarter.
After coming close in the 48th minute, Korea finally found the equaliser in the 53rd as Jihun Yang converted from the spot by finding the bottom left corner. Korea managed to hold on to a point, thanks to their goalkeeper Jaehyeon Kim, who made plenty of fine saves, including two important ones right at the death.
Pakistan captain Umar Bhutta was felicitated ahead of the match for making his 200th international appearance.
MALAYSIA THRASH CHINA
Malaysia registered their second victory on the bounce as they eased to a 5-1 win over China in the day's second match. Firhan Ashari (45th and 49th minutes) netted a brace while Faizal Saari (11th), Abu Kamal Azrai (15th) and Najmi Jazlan (57th) sounded the board once each. Chongcong Chen (4th) had dealt an early blow for Malaysia, but China could not keep pace with their rivals for most of the lop-sided contest.
Results: Pakistan 1 drew with Korea 1; Malaysia 5 bt China 1
