Bench lost the game against Japan: Shahnaz

KARACHI: Former Pakistan Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh has said it was actually the bench that lost the match to Japan in the Asian Games semi-final on Thursday in Jakarta.

“The body language of the players was disappointing as the bench failed to guide them during the match against Japan,” the former Pakistan coach told PPI.

He said that when Japan took lead and marked each of the Green-shirts, the coach should have asked the team to slow down their pace in order to entice Japan to break their defence and attack.

“But unfortunately the players were not guided well from the bench. They played haphazardly when they should have regrouped and slowed down the pace and entice the Japanese to come out of their defence and then find their way into the goal,” he said.

Shahnaz further said that Japan must be praised for their brilliant game and that the former Asian minnows had been improving their game consistently for some years, while Pakistan went downhill with every year passing.

Former Olympian Naveed Alam also criticised the team management for not playing the team properly. He said that it was a blunder to use defenders as forwards.

“Abu Bakar and Junaid Manzoor have always played as defenders, but they were played as forwards during the Asian Games. It was ridiculous,” Naveed said. “This was the best chance for us to qualify for Tokyo Olympics 2020,” he said.

“We missed a great chance. Had we won everything would have rolled straight for the game of hockey in Pakistan,” he said. He further said that the pool of players had not been expanded. “The same players were fielded who have been representing Pakistan for seven to eight years. The federation only invests in the senior team. It has done nothing to enhance the pool of young players,” he said.