Korea 4 beat Japan 2
Goals: Korea – Jong Hyun Jang PC 3m, Seong Jung Kang FG 7m, Sung Min Lee FG 22m, Jong Ho Seo FG 40m, Japan – Takahiko Yamabori PC 24m, Naohiko Tobita FG 47m
Day 5 in Changzhou started off with the match between Japan and Korea, on three and four points respectively after two matches, tussling to maintain a good standing in the run for the top two places in the group that carry an early ticket to Monchengladbach.
Korea had and seized the first opportunity of the match when they were awarded a first minute penalty corner. Japan warded off Jong Hyun Jang’s first attempt only to be faced with another corner, and presented with a second chance, Jang made no mistake and converted with a mighty flick to the bottom left corner of the goal.
Barely five minutes later, Seong Jung Kang already put his side two up, finishing off a skillful individual run with a ball pushed past Japanese goalkeeper Hirofumi Miyoshi rushing towards him. Korea in this phase dominated the game at will, controlling ball possession excellently and leaving no space for their opponents, while Japan struggled with sloppy passing and unforced errors.
Korea put away another goal in the 22nd minute with a great team effort validated by Sung Min Lee’s finishing touch. Three minutes later, from their first penalty cornern and first serious opportunity, Japan finally also got on the scoreboard with a penalty corner converted by Takahiko Yamabori for his third goal of the tournament.
Shortly after halftime, Korea scored another excellent goal when Jong Ho Seo deflected a good slap pass over goalkeeper Miyoshi. But Japan just would not lie down and started fighting harder and harder, steadily increasing their percentage of ball possession and finally creating goalscoring chances.
Naohiko Tobita managed to get his team within two goals of Korea again with a little more than twenty minutes to go, but Korea stepped their defensive work up a notch, and Japan eventually ran out of time, despite some very good efforts late in the second half.
With this overall well-deserved win, Korea take over the table lead in pool B at least until today’s last match.
Malaysia 2 beat China 0
Goals: Malaysia – Ahmad Tengku PC 47m, Ismail Abu FG 60m
In the following match, Malaysia finally got their bid for a World Cup spot off the ground, defeating hosts China after having lost their initial matches against Japan and Korea.
Malaysia was the slightly better side at the beginning, and improved steadily towards halftime, gaining better control of the match. They were however unable to make use of their opportunities, in part thanks to some great saves from Ri Feng Su and excellent defending by Fang Ming Luo. Malaysia even failed to take advantage of a period of 11 on 9 when China had two of their players sin-binned for bad tackles within less than two minutes.
In the second half, the balance shifted steadily more towards Malaysia, and in the 48th minute, Ahmad Tengku finally scored the much longed for goal for his side from a penalty corner. And a beautiful goal it was, as a variation to the left found Chua Boon Huat, today with another superb performance, who slapped a ball towards goal, and Tengku deflected it up into the roof of the goal.
China now struggled more and more to keep Malaysia at bay, and never really got close to the equalizer. To the contrary, they had to concede another goal in the 60th minute, when a sloppy pass in the defense saw the ball turned over to Malaysia and quickly passed to Ismail Abu who had no mind to waste this chance he was being presented with.
Malaysia dominated much of this match and deservedly won their first points in this event, getting them back in the race for a Monchengladbach spot. As for their opponents, the prospects of the hosts are bleak with only one point from three games.
France 5 beat New Zealand 2
Goals: France – Sebastien Jean-Jean FG 4m, Julien Boyer FG 5m FG 35m, Frederic Soyez FG 29m, Nicolas Gaillard PS 67m, New Zealand – Lloyd Stephenson FG 15m, Hayden Shaw PC 24m
To wrap up the day, New Zealand and France met for a thriller.
The French stunned the Kiwis with a quick lead through goals by Sebastien Jean-Jean who deflected a ball at waist height into the back of the net and Julien Boyer who capitalized on a lack of coordination in the Blacksticks’ defense.
The pace remained frantic, the ball moving back and forth and up and down the pitch fast. New Zealand slowly recovered from the shock of the first few minutes and got into the game. Soon they were able to reduce the French lead to one goal through Lloyd Stephenson, and a little later still, Hayden Shaw’s first goal of the tournament - of course from a penalty corner - brought the score level.
But France had another blitz in store and sunk another double just before the end of the first half. First, team captain Frederic Soyez capitalized on a good pass and shot it high into the net, and a few minutes later Juju Boyer scored his second of the day with a flick just under the crossbar after being passed the ball from the back line.
The second half was largely dominated by Blacksticks’ attacks but they found now way through or around the determined French defense, whose performance was superb despite the absence of skilled and experienced defender Charles Verrier who tore a muscle two days ago and faces several months away from the field.
Much to the contrary, New Zealand even had to take another blow, when a Frederic Soyez penalty corner flick hit Ryan Archibald on the goal line and a penalty stroke was awarded. Veteran Nicolas Gaillard coolly converted, and the 5-2 final score was established.
With this win, France make pool B very interesting. With two rounds of pool action to be played, Korea hold the table lead at seven points, closely pursued by New Zealand on six and France on five points. But Malaysia and Japan, both with a tally of three points, cannot be ruled out either, and the next two playing days in this group will undoubtedly provide intense action.
Tomorrow Monday is another day of pool A action while pool B rests.
