In the semifinals scheduled for Thursday, India take on Japan while Korea meet Pakistan who topped Pool A with an unimpressive 1-1 draw with Japan.It was a cracker of a match marked by tremendous pace and vociferous support from the stands packed almost to capacity by highly-charged expat Indians many of whom had driven miles for the game. And they would have returned home satiated at having seen one of the top drawer performances by the Indian teams in recent time, though it lasted just 35 minutes, after which they became defensive to allow the Koreans an upper hand.

Baljit Singh Dhillon, who seem to be finding his feet at the international level, putIndia ahead in the 27th minute with an express reverse hit to the second angle from the left, and four minutes later, he set up Mukesh Kumar for an indirect penalty corner conversion for a 2-0 lead.

But the Koreans swarmed all over the Indians in the second-half, and like angry bees, stung the Indian defence which finally caved in to concede a penalty corner which Kang Keon Wook converted with a flick to the roof of the net. At the start, the Indian team bristled with aggression and electricity the like of which one has seen only twice in the past five years, the first when they beat Pakistan in the SAF Games final and then the 4-1 drubbing to the Netherlands in the Pre-Olympic tournament at Barcelona.

The Koreans, after a dangerous foray inside the first 20 seconds, knew not what hit them. It was pure magic by the Indians as they moved the ball extremely well and cut through repeatedly. Had the finish matched the approach, then India would have been up by more than just two goals at the break. A slightchange in the formation helped India to tighten up the midfield where the Koreans have been known to dominate. Coach MK Kaushik made the right changes by giving Sandeep Somesh, who had an outstanding outing, a full game at centre-half, instead of Thirumalvalavan who has been rather ordinary in his performance.

Also, by holding back Md Riaz to double up as the second centre-half, the Indians were able to add strength and variety to the midfield. At the back, Dilip Tirkey and Anil Aldrin yet again came out in flying colours.

Up front, Mukesh and inside-right Sabu Varkey were inconsistent and it was left to Dhanraj Pillay and Dhillon to carry the attacks. Pillay has been wonderfully committed to a cause and it was reflected in his willingness to fall back as far as the 25-yard area to assist the defence, surely an unfamiliar sight. Young Dhillon it was who caught the eye with his big heart for a heavy workload as he did enormous amount of running right through the match.

After a few early misses, Dhillonstruck like lightning as Somesh intercepted a Korean attack, quickly released the ball to Riaz. Dhillon made a great run inside which gave him the space to receive the through ball. He then cut sharply to the left and let fly a thunderous reverse hit to the far post, and the goalkeeper could barely react when the ball screamed past him and slammed into the boards. Then came the sixth penalty corner of the session for India and Dhillon feinted a flick-push, but rolled the ball to Mukesh who swept home and India were on Cloud Nine at the break.

However, there was a dramatic change in the Indian stance on resumption, as in their attempt to slow the game, they turned needlessly defensive which suited the Korean plan of applying pressure.