Asia Cup 2022: Dominant Pakistan beat hosts Indonesia 13-0
May 24, 2022
Jakarta [Indonesia], May 24 : After holding their nerves to score a late goal that halted India from cruising to a win in their opening game on Monday, Pakistan put up a dominant performance against hosts Indonesia to remain unbeaten in the pool A matches in the Asia Cup here at the state-of-the-art GBK Sports Arena on Tuesday. With this win, Pakistan kept their hopes intact to make it to the Super 4s of the tournament, which is a World Cup Qualifier.
"Yesterday's match was good, we had the chances to win but could not utilize the opportunities we created. Nonetheless, we are here with a young team and a draw against India and a good win against Indonesia is a confidence booster for them," expressed Umar Bhutta, Captain of the Pakistan team.
Getting off to a strong start, Pakistan scored a flurry of goals against hosts Indonesia from quarter to quarter. Ajaz Ahmad (2', 49'), Abdul Rana (4', 17'), Manan Abdul (6', 19') and Rizwan Ali (15', 25', 43'), Mubashir Ali (16'), Ali Shan (19'), Ali Ghazanfar (35'), Moin Shakeel (45') scored goals in Pakistan's big win. "The team is focused on earning a spot for the World Cup in India. Indonesia is a lower-ranked team, and we tried our best to score as many goals as we could because, in the last game against India, we could not score from the chances we created," added Bhutta after the big win.
In another match, a spirited Bangladesh beat nemesis Oman 2-1 in their Pool B encounter. It was a sweet victory for the Bangladesh team, as they had lost to Oman 6-2 in the final of the Asian Games Qualifier only a fortnight ago. The team stuck to Coach Gobinathan Krishnamurthy's plans, converted from the chances they created and restricted Oman from making potential scoring opportunities.
An early sixth-minute goal by Ashraful Islam, through a well-struck penalty corner, set the right momentum for Bangladesh. Even though Oman bounced back with a field goal in the 17th minute through Rashad Al Fazari to equalize 1-1, they could not convert a single goal from the six PCs they created in the match which dented their hopes of a win. Bangladesh, meanwhile, regained the lead in the 40th minute with yet another PC, well-converted by Md Rakibul. They ensured they defended this lead till the final hooter and seal the winning points.
