Penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas's regaining his form and fitness during the World Cup qualifiers is a healthy sign for Pakistan to expect better results in next year's mega event.
Sohail successfully converted nine short-corners to have a major share in a total of 25 goals scored by Pakistan in the qualifiers.
Beating Japan 3-1 in the final in the French city of Lille on Sunday, Pakistan as the winners of the tournament have now entered the main round to be held in India from Feb 28 to March 13, 2010.
Sohail's two goals in the final against Japan played a key role in Pakistan's 3-1 win. Otherwise the all-important match could have turned to any side.
Sohail's significant role is also being highlighted as when he could not contribute any goal, Pakistan lost to Poland (2-3). Sohail also bagged the top scorer's award, the only individual honour at the qualifiers, which went to Pakistan.
It is being said that Sohail might have been under some sort of pressure, too, before the beginning of the event due to his being criticized for his poor performance in the previous event, the Asia Cup, where he could score only two goals.
Placed at number seven in world rankings, Pakistan were playing as the top-ranked team in the qualifiers.
Their close rivals were Japan, who are ranked 14th. And as expected, the two played the final. France (17th), Poland (22), Russia (23) and Italy (26) were also far below in rankings as compared to Pakistan. Pakistan defeated Japan 6-1, Italy (5-0), Russia (5-0) and France (4-2) before losing to Poland (3-2).
The performances of strikers Rehan Butt (four goals), Haseem Khan (three) and Mohammad Zubair (three) was another good sign as all showed their presence, enabling Pakistan to also finish as the top-scoring team with 25 goals, followed by Japan, who scored 15.
But the team expects more from all three and the others, too, in the future. Rehan scored two against Japan in the 6-1 routing and one each against Russia and France.
Similarly, Haseem scored one each against Japan (in the final), Russia and Italy. Zubair scored one each against Japan (league match), Poland and Italy.
Except for losing the match to a lowly-rated Poland (3-2), Pakistan's overall performance in the event was satisfactory.
Still, the final round is a challenging one where top countries like Australia, Holland, Germany, Spain and England are the strong outfits.
The way Pakistan played the final against Japan is the kind of performance that they should maintain while meeting the challenges in India.
The team management has almost four months (111 days) to prepare before the big challenge and start their mission of bringing back their lost glory for which this country has been struggling for the last 15 years.
Participation in the Champions Challenge-I from Dec 6 to 13 in Salta, Argentina, will be a better opportunity for the management to assess the team's strength before competing in the World Cup.
In Argentina, Pakistan will be competing with notable teams such as Belgium, Argentina, China, New Zealand and India in order to reserve a place in next year's Champions Trophy.
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