SASC: PAKISTAN, JAPAN STAY UNBEATEN TO SET UP MOUTH-WATERING TITLE SHOWDOWN

IPOH, May 10 (Bernama) -- Pakistan and Japan kept their unbeaten records en route to setting up an intriguing title showdown in the 30th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey championship here tomorrow.

Three-time champions and comeback kings Pakistan, who are hoping to end their two-decade title drought, escaped with a 1-1 draw with world number 10 New Zealand in the final round-robin matches at the Azlan Shah Stadium here today.

Pakistan lived up to their comeback kings tag when they hit back to equalise through Abu Bakar Mahmood’s penalty corner in the 43rd minute after the Black Sticks had drawn first blood in the 35th minute with a Luke Holmes field goal.

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Japan, who are gunning for their first title in the invitational tournament after their best-ever fourth placing in the 2022 edition, downed bottom-placed Canada 3-1 with another rock-solid defensive performance to restrict the number of goals they have conceded to just five goals in five matches.

World number 16 Japan also had to fight back from going a goal down after Sean Davis opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, with Hiro Saito (43’), Tsubasa Tanaka (56’) and Kosei Kawabe (60’) getting on the scoresheet.

Japan topped the standings at the end of the round-robin campaign with 13 points, having defeated South Korea 2-1, New Zealand 4-1 and Malaysia 2-1 earlier.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, also known as the Green Shirts and who beat Malaysia 5-4, South Korea 4-0 and Canada 5-4 earlier, finished second with 11 points.

Japan and Pakistan played out a 1-1 stalemate in the round-robin stage.

Pakistan head coach Roelant Oltmans said the Green Shirts, who lifted the trophy in 1999, 2000 and 2003, will have to draw a strategy to breach Japan's water-tight defence tomorrow.

“Japan are a tough and good team, their defence is very balanced. So, we have to find a way to prise open their defence, which is going to be very difficult because all the other teams also found it difficult.

"Then again, every team has some weaknesses that others can exploit and hurt them… that's what we have to find out.

“At the same time, we know about ourselves (our weaknesses). When we played too open (like) against Canada and Malaysia, we failed to control the game and presented opportunities to our opponents. I'd like to win the game without a penalty shootout but, if it happens, it will be a good experience for the players... we have trained and (are) prepared for it,” he said at the post-match press conference.

Japan head coach Yoshihiro Anai said he doesn't plan to change his team's defensive style for the final as the Samurais are in the process of building a strong team to be among the gold medal contenders at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

“We will play defensively because Pakistan are very skilful and are good at dribbling. We have to stay focused on guarding our fortress and stop their aggressive style of play. We still have some homework to do to improve our finishing,” he said.

-- BERNAMA