RAJGIR: Japanese goalkeeper Yu Kudo put up a superlative performance during their semifinal tie against India at the Asian Champions Trophy. Yet, it was the hosts who had the last laugh as they beat the world No. 11 side 2-0 at the Rajgir Sports Complex on Tuesday in front of a packed stadium.
In the final, India will face off against China, who beat Malaysia 3-1 in the other semifinal, with the hope of defending the title they won in Ranchi last year.
As for the match itself, Kudo made innumerable saves throughout it, including some that took everyone’s breath away, but her wall was finally breached in the final quarter when Deepika won India a penalty stroke in the 48th minute following a foul by Junon Kawai.
It was Navneet Kaur, who came up to take it and she went for the left corner. Kudo, a big fan of India goalkeeper Savita Punia and England goalkeeper Maddie Hinch, anticipated it well and even got a hand to it. But to the delight of the fans, the ball still went in and the women in blue breathed a sigh of relief.
The goal not only gave the hosts a new-found vigour but the crowd also found their voice. With their support, the Indian team kept going in search of their second and it finally came in the 56th minute.
It was Sangita Kumari who played the ball to Sunelita Toppo, who ran down the right before playing it from near the baseline to Lalremsiami in front of the goal.
The pass was out of Kudo’s reach and Siami just directed the ball into the goal with ease. Even on this occasion, Kudo came from nowhere and got a stick to it but it wasn’t enough to keep Siami’s shot out.
Speaking after the match, even Harendra Singh was in full praise for the Japanese goalkeeper, who did not concede a single goal from penalty corners despite India winning 13.
“I give credit to the Japanese goalkeeper because she anticipated every variation that we tried from the PC. Whether we went right or left, she was always there. On a couple of occasions, she also saved two shots from the rebound by staying on the goal-line and it was amazing,” said the India coach.
Despite the good show by the Japanese goalkeeper, who was playing her first international tournament, the coach admitted that India should have done better from the PCs. “From 13 PCs, I expect a minimum of three conversions and we have spoken about it in the meetings, too,” Harendra added.
While most of the PCs were taken by Deepika, Navneet and Udita also tried their hands at it towards the end but none of them could break down the Japanese defence. As Kudo said after the match, her team had analysed India’s PC conversions from earlier games and knew what they were up against and it all worked.
Although India failed to convert the chances, they dominated the game throughout and had as many as 23 circle penetrations compared to just 6 by Japan. They also had seven shots on goal which was zero for Japan.
India will now hope to recover as quickly as possible and prepare for the final, to be held in less than 24 hours. They might, however, be without Neha after she got a hit on her left arm during the match and was in bandages afterwards.
