A tricky semifinal tie awaits India in Bhubaneswar

The Indians men's hockey team assured themselves of a semifinal place after they disposed off an Uzbek side, which failed to plug the gaps in the left flank exploited to the hilt by Graham Reid's chargers in the last pool match of the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar. As a result of the repeated forays, the Indians earned no less than eight PCs in the first quarter, three of which made their way past goalkeeper Askarov. It was followed by four goals from open play in the second quarter. Rinat Mamatkazin's chargers, who were unable to stem the flow of the Indian attacks in the first half, recovered admirably to restrict the hosts in the third quarter with some smart interceptions. The distinct lack of understanding and anticipation between the Indian strikers came to the fore yet again as the crosses zipped across the goalmouth well past the outstretched sticks of every blue shirt in the vicinity. Heavy touches from the defenders and midfielders - including one from the skipper himself resulted in the hosts losing possession time and again in an amateurish fashion, but the Uzbeks simply lacked the firepower to exploit the carelessness of Reid's boys. A lone goal resulted at the end of the third quarter, during and after which Manpreet and co. seemed to have lost their tempo. Such a style of play does not augur well for the knockouts - particularly the all-important semifinal that the Indians need to win at all costs to advance to the decisive phase of the qualifiers. Akashdeep Singh's hat-trick was the only highlight of the evening, by the end of which ten goals materialised from 63 circle entries that resulted in 23 shots on goal - not the kind of statistics that the hosts would be particularly proud of. The enormity of the task on hand is certainly amplified by the nature of the opposition, given that the Indians will face Japan in the semifinal after the Asian Games champion thrashed Poland 6-2 in a cross-over match on Wednesday. The Indians managed a narrow 3-2 win over Siegfried Aikman's side in the semifinals of the Asian Champions Trophy late last year, and the coach of Samurai Japan was emphatic that his team was distinctly unlucky to have lost by a 0-2 margin against India at the Azlan Shah Cup earlier this year. The Indians will begin firm favourites against a Japanese side but Indians have not been at their best, thus far, at Bhubaneswar. Both the goalkeepers, Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak, have been mostly untested thus far but will need to be at their best on Friday - and hope that the Indian defenders rise to the occasion when it matters the most.