After an all-too-brief a glimmer of hope, Pakistan went down to Great Britain 4-1 in what was a tame capitulation. The heavy defeat does not quite end their dream of a top-four finish, but with too many ifs and butts coming into play, the scenario for them is not really heartening.
Pakistan’s remaining games are against South Africa and Australia, in that order. To stay in contention, it is mandatory for Pakistan to win that encounter, if possible with a decent margin to make up on one-minus in goal aggregate and then spread its prayer mat for others to do even worse to bring the permutations in their favour. As for beating Australia, it is not really impossible: to the great surprise of everybody here Argentina held them to a 2-2 draw. But then the Aussies are by far the most formidable of all squads with a serious claim to top-of-the-podium. They are wont to self-destruct now and then. The misstep against Argentina though would definitely wake them up, the Greenshirts thus shall expect no favours.
In group B’s two morning and afternoon games, the form sides the Netherlands and Germany gave their opponents a sound thrashing, New Zealand going down to the former 5-1 and India to the latter 5-2.
It was rather strange that after two pretty decent games, Pakistan were found quite mournfully inadequate when actually they should’ve had their tails up. After being conspicuous by their absence against Spain, and perhaps buoyed by their good show then, their throaty supporters too had filed into the stands in good numbers – not as many to out-yell the loud Brits but enough to make their presence felt.
As usual, Pakistan was off to a rather pensive and sluggish first few minutes – they had gotten away with this routine of taking their time to find their bearings on the field against Spain and Argentina. Great Britain, with a much more strong craving for a win, was not to allow them that luxury. They came hard in the first few minutes, made a sally deep into our area and a goal was a very near miss in the very first minute. Only two minutes latter another opportunity, a goalmouth pass and James Tindall unerringly sounded the board. A couple of minutes further, one Irfan infringement got England the short corner that was shoved out of the harm’s way by ‘keeper Imran Shah’s stick.
The attacks coming thick and fast now gave Pakistan’s defence and midfield a bout of jitters, and two green cards at the same time to Muhammad Waqas and skipper Sohail Abbas reduced it to nine men on the field. At this critical stretch some imaginative long balls and a bit of a counterattack saved Pakistan from getting dented further. Pakistan by now were pushing up and asking some questions off a robust and physical GB defence but their approaches were too feeble, to the extent that there wasn’t a single serious attempt at the England goal.
England meanwhile got another opportunity for a field goal on a counterattack, and ‘keeper Imran Shah finding himself too lonely with no defender in sight, rushed out but failed to tackle the onrushing attacker from the right, and when the ball came to Jonty Clarke he had the whole of Pakistan goal in front. Even if he were blind with a broken arm, he still would have banged it in.
Two goals down, the Pakistanis trudged off into the break in a thoughtful, somber mood. But they came out with purpose, winning a short corner the very first minute that resulted in another two on the go, yet the goal remained elusive. They kept pushing, but somehow even the more respectable of their endeavours at best fizzled out before raising a real challenge. Meanwhile, Ashley Jackson converted another short corner to make it 3-0 in the 50th and Pakistan had all been outplayed comprehensively when Jackson again compounded the misery on another short corner to make it 4-0. With the hooter about to go, on a short corner Sohail Abbas finally scored but it was not quite enough to console his sorry men.
Pakistan have been beaten well and truly. But the event is not over yet. They must pick themselves up, regroup and come back to fight another day – against South Africa Sunday. This caving in that has so unsettlingly become the norm for the Greenshirts needs to be shed. The time is now.
Timid Pakistan capitulate to GB
