RAJGIR: And, finally, the strikers were in sync. Forward passes were crisp, it had the necessary zing and China's stacked defensive line couldn't come up with answers. The end result was a commanding 7-0 win to advance to the final as the best team of the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup in Rajgir on Saturday.
When facing a team intent on defensive organisation before nicking a few goals from penalty corners, the big thing is to put away early chances as well as moving the opponent's defensive parts this way and that. The hosts were quicker, more incisive with their passing and toyed with the Chinese backline.
They looked like they could score whenever they came forward; it certainly seemed like that in the first 20 minutes when they struck three unanswered goals, via Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Shilanand Lakra.
Coach Craig Fulton had said their players were 'in a good mental space' after their 4-1 win over Malaysia in the second of the Super 4 stage games on Thursday. It certainly seemed like that in the minutes after push back on a relatively pleasant evening after a very harsh late Summer sun had baked the field of play for the majority of the afternoon.
Jarmanpreet Singh made a lot of plays from the right back area and Harmanpreet Singh was composed in the centre but what really caused the visitors problems was in marking the box crashing India midfielders. The likes of Vivek Sagar Prasad, Hardik Singh and Rajinder Singh kept drifting into pockets of space in the middle third before twisting and turning from Chinese traffic. This meant China, who narrowly lost the group stage game over India 3-4, were left chasing shadows. What also worked for India's favour was they also looked to go long to directly find a home stick in the box.
That's not what the likes of Anthony Farry, Michel van dan Huevel and Roelant Oltmans would have wanted, the three coaches tasked with taking the Chinese men's team to the next level. Disciplined sides are at their best when they retain their structure and when they aren't facing their own goalkeeper. But, for vast swathes of the game on Saturday night, they were behind the ball and running back towards their own goal. Defensive errors kept adding up and the Indian players were happy to keep up that relentless wave of pressure.
By the time the hosts' night was done, their forwards were mildly embarrassed to celebrate the goals. And the dominance so full they began walking the ball past the goalline.
Winning the Asia Cup was largely seen as a formality when the tournament began last week but the hosts have had hiccups on the way. Now, though, they are 60 minutes away from punching a World Cup ticket to Belgium-Netherlands in 2026.
South Korea, who drew India a few nights ago, will come up with a similar gameplan of frustrating India, stacking the D and depending on breaks. But this version of India will be ready for that.