Asian Champions Trophy: Pakistan survive scare to reach final

KARACHI: In a nail-biting semi-final contest, Pakistan overcame Malaysia on penalty shootout to qualify for the final of the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat on Saturday.

The Greenshirts pipped their rivals 3-1 on penalties after regular time ended with 4-4 on the scoreboard.

Earlier, Malaysia took lead through Faisal Sarri but Pakistan dominated the first quarter as they kept the Malaysian defenders under constant pressure. Irfan Jr equalised through a field goal, before Aleem Bilal converted a drag flick for Pakistan’s second goal.

In the second quarter, forward Umar Bhutta played well and scored Pakistan’s third goal as they continued to control the match. Aleem then scored his second and converted a penalty to make it 4-1.

But Malaysia’s coach Roelant Oltmans was confident that his side will bounce back and said in the on-air interview after the second quarter that they will score more goals. And Malaysia did the same when they fought back in the third quarter and scored three quick goals to stun the Greenshirts.

Tengku scored the second goal for Malaysia before Nik Rozemi’s fantastic strike further narrowed the lead. The Greenshirts appeared to be clueless after Malaysia’s comeback and conceded another goal when fragile defense and poor goalkeeping by Imran Butt allowed their opponents to level the score.

In the penalty shootout, Pakistan recovered and scored three goals, while Malaysia could only score once. Later on Saturday, India were set to face Japan in the second semi-final.