Pakistan hope to topple mighty Australia today

LONDON: First things first. Pakistan will have to beat world number ones Australia in Tuesday’s (today’s) mouth-watering clash in their bid to make the cut for their first Olympic hockey semifinal in 12 years.

Otherwise there is no hope for the three-time former champions, who managed to stay alive on Sunday by recording a thrilling 5-4 win over South Africa — the lowest-ranked team in Pool A — and now have seven points from four outings at London 2012.

Great Britain’s stunning fightback against Australia in Sunday evening’s game in which they scored three goals in five minutes to earn a 3-3 draw has left Pool A wide open. At the moment, four of the six teams in the group have realistic hopes of remaining in the medals race with Australia leading the pack because of their eight points and a healthy goal difference of +11. Hosts Great Britain, too, have eight points but their goal difference is +6.

Pakistan have seven points and a goal difference of 0 which gives them a slight edge over Spain who also have seven points but a goal difference of -2.The Pakistanis take on Australia at 2:45 pm (PST) fully aware of the fact that their countrymen back home will be hoping that the national team won’t disappoint them.

“It’s a tough task, there is no doubt about it,” Khawaja Junaid, the Pakistan coach, told ‘The News’. “Australia are one of the best teams and the fact that they also need a win to advance to the semifinals make them even more dangerous.”

But Junaid, a former Olympian, was quick to add that Australia’s status as the title favourites won’t stop Pakistan from giving their best show today.“It’s a simple equation for us,” he said. “We have to win tomorrow because any other result will end our medal hopes.”

So can Pakistan tame mighty Australia? That’s the question that has been haunting team officials and fans since the day the Green-shirts fell to Great Britain 4-1 last Friday.

On current form, it might sound a bit too optimistic to expect an upset win from Pakistan but the national team has beaten the Aussies in the recent past. Late last year, playing in Australia’s own backyard the Pakistanis pulled off a surprising win in the final of a three-nation tournament in Perth.

“Australians are not unbeatable, something that we witnessed in their match against Argentina,” said Shahid Ali Khan, Pakistan goalkeeping coach, referring to the drawn Pool A match between the two sides. “We have to ensure that our forwards capitalise on the chances that will come their way and our defenders make minimum mistakes.”

The onus is on the team’s senior quartet comprising skipper Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmed, Shakeel Abbasi and Rehan Butt.



Pakistan’s hockey chiefs have retained the four in spite of heavy criticism in the lead up to the Olympics and now the final opportunity for the players to justify their selection is staring them in the face.

While Sohail and Waseem have been able to play key roles in the event, the duo of Abbasi and Butt have so far failed to to exhibit the sort of firepower that once made them feared strikers for opposing teams.

“Our senior players are well aware of the roles they have to play and I’m sure they will click tomorrow,” said Junaid.

Perhaps even more important will be the performance of goalie Imran Shah. Pakistan gambled by playing with just a single goalie but the young Imran hasn’t lived up to expectations. He has conceded several soft goals and will need to raise his game to be able to stand a chance against the Aussies who have the best strike power in this tournament.

A victory over Australia will raise Pakistan’s points tall to ten and will give them a place in the semifinals for the first time since Sydney 2000. The winner of the Spain-Great Britain match to be played at 11:00 pm (PST) will also proceed for the last four.