News
Goalball teams taking charge in Incheon
Date: October 21, 2014
Category: Goalball
Day 2 at the Incheon Para Games featured teams taking control of their matches after going down by a goal or two in the beginning.
Match 7 (first match day 2) however was not one of these matches. This was the mens match between China and Qatar. China had control of this match from the outset and had scored their first goal after only 1:30 minutes of play. The scoring came quick and fast as the Chinese were able to find the gaps between the center player and the wingers. The goals for China didn’t stop until mid way through the second half when the match was stopped prematurely due to China having a 10 goal lead. Qatar had their chances on a couple of penalties and a good ball in open play but the Chinese were too ruthless in their defense and stopped everything that came their way.
Korea and Iran were the next two men’s teams on the schedule. This was one of those matches where the eventual winner did need to take charge. After only 3 minutes of play Korea was leading 2-0 from a long ball penalty and a regular ball. They did have the chance to score off another penalty to make it 3-0 but were not able to capitalize. After this Jafari woke up and scored two quick goals. Korea though were not about to roll over and scored the next goal. However a fine ball down the line from Iran equalized the score again. A second goal in the same place and suddenly Iran head into the break with the lead. Korea did have another two chances but Iran was able to defend the ball over the goal and stop the ball from rolling over the line. Korea did score the first goal of the second half to get back on level footing but after this it was one way traffic for the Iranians. They scored all the remaining goals in the second half and eventually took it 10-4.
Next it was the turn of the Japanese men to take the three points but not after going down a goal first in their match against Jordan. Mohammad did this in the second minute of play but this was the only goal that Jordan saw. Japan took the next eight to become comfortable winners. Japan scored all these goals in the second half after substituting all three players.
Next up it was Mongolia’s turn to show that they wanted to cause the upset. During the first minute of play they were able to score against Iraq. Unfortunately for the Mongolians, Iraq scored less than half a minute later. After this Iraq was just too strong and did all the scoring for the rest of the match except for one penalty that Mongolia was able to convert late in the second half. Final score was 12-2.
Next our attention turned to the women of Japan and Korea. This game didn’t feature a comeback because there was only one goal scored and that was by the Japanese. This goal was made early in the second half off a highball penalty. Both teams had chances to make more goals off penalties or balls that hit the post and bounced out but it was not meant to be.
The final match for the day was between Iran and Thailand. Thailand attempted to do what the others earlier that day couldn’t: win as the underdog. However despite them scoring that first goal, Iran was just too strong. Thailand was able to score a second goal in the second half but went down 11-2.
We can now look forward to day three and see then if any of the lower ranked teams are able to score the upset.
Table standings:
Men’s Pool A
Iran 2 0 0 23 8 6 15 3
Korea 1 0 1 14 10 3 4 9
Iraq 1 0 1 16 15 3 1 8
Mongolia 0 0 2 2 22 0 -20 -20
Men’s Pool B
China 2 0 0 16 0 6 16 11
Japan 1 0 1 8 7 3 1 -5
Jordan 1 0 1 9 13 3 -4 1
Qatar 0 0 2 5 18 0 -13 -7
Women’s Pool Y
Iran 1 0 0 11 2 3 9 3
Korea 1 0 1 4 1 3 3 2
China 1 0 0 2 1 3 1 2
Japan 1 0 1 2 2 3 0 -2
Thailand 0 0 2 2 15 0 -13 -5