Asian Champions Trophy LIVE: India vs Japan LIVE – Hosts India clinched a dominant 5-0 victory against Japan to storm into the final at the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy 2023. Earlier, Malaysia entered the final of the tournament for the first-ever time. The Speedy Tigers knocked out defending champions Malaysia with a comprehensive 6-2 victory on 11th August 2023, Friday. Before the semifinal, Pakistan faced China in the fifth place play-off and won the contest 6-1.
Malaysia vs South Korea
After finishing second at the points table in the round-robin stage, Malaysia will face defending champions South Korea in the semifinal. Malaysia have never made it past the semifinal in the Asian Champions Trophy and are looking to register their best-ever performance by reaching the final for the first time.
The Speedy Tigers won four out of their five matches in the tournament so far, losing only to India. Following the 0-5 defeat against India, the Malaysian side bounced back by registering a 3-1 win against Japan and a hard-fought 1-0 victory against South Korea. Coach Arul Antoni would want his boys to continue the winning momentum.
South Korea meanwhile are eyeing a revenge against Malaysia. The defending champions lost their previous contest against the Malaysians as they were unable to score that one solitary goal. Korea played without the skipper Jhongyun Jhang for the first three quarters in the contest as he was not fully fit.
His absence was felt especially in the penalty corners. Despite his appearance in the final quarter of their previous game against Malaysia, he couldn’t do much. The Koreans would desperately want him back for the entire duration of the match in the upcoming contest.
India vs Japan
Hosts India will face Japan in the semifinal. The Men in Blue enter the contest after winning their last three matches in the tournament. Japan too registered a win in their previous match. However it was the first victory for the Masaki Ohashi-led side as they defeated China 2-1.
Despite being the favourites, India will be wary of Japan. The runner-up of the previous edition of the Asian Champions Trophy is the only team to hold India to a draw in the tournament.
The upcoming contest will be a battle between India’s attackers and Japan’s defence. India’s coach Craig Fulton would want his boys to maintain the consistency and replicate a similar show like their last three games.
Japan meanwhile will look to take inspiration from their performance against India earlier in the tournament. They will look to try and replicate the same when both the teams meet yet again.
Where to watch Asian Champions Trophy LIVE?
The matches can be watched LIVE on Fancode App. Fans in India can also catch the LIVE action on Star Sports channels.
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