2017 Asia Cup: Pakistan face Group B toppers Malaysia

Captain Irfan optimistic of converting more chances against Wednesday opponents

KARACHI: Pakistan hockey team, after qualifying for the second round, will face Malaysia in their first match of the final-four round of the 2017 Asia Cup at Dhaka on Wednesday.

The Greenshirts entered round two by finishing on the second position courtesy a 7-0 against Bangladesh, a 2-2 draw against Japan and 3-1 defeat to India in Group A.

Malaysia and South Korea finished on the first and second position respectively to make it into the final-four from Group B.

The results of the ground rounds pit Pakistan against Malaysia in their first match of second round, while India face South Korea in the other match.

Pakistan captain Muhammad Irfan is optimistic to rectify the mistakes which led to a draw and a defeat in the group matches.

“We are working on our weak areas and are focusing more on finishing our moves successfully, which requires more coordination in the field,” he said. “We missed a lot of chance in all three matches which is a weakness we have been working on for the last couple of days. We are optimistic to do well in our next match.”

Meanwhile, head coach Farhat Khan said the players are in a good form and they just need to get their act together in the midfield to produce better results. “The other teams are taking advantage of this, they judge our move and defend their goal. We have to create and finish moves which the other team don’t expect,” he said.

Farhat added that defenders need to reset their focus on providing better balls to the midfield.

“The defenders are doing fine,” he said. “They just need to keep focus a bit more on the ball. You can’t take your eye off the ball even for a second; otherwise, you lose the move. We’ll be putting to test all the practice in the match against Malaysia.”