Asian Champions Trophy: India vs Japan semifinal preview: Where to watch, timing and live streaming

Bengaluru, October 26: Defending champions India, who trounced Japan 9-0 in the round-robin stage, will hope to continue from where they left off at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman as they take on the same opponents again in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey semifinal on Saturday (October 27).

Pakistan will take on Malaysia in the other last-four encounter tie on the same day.

South Korea and hosts Oman will square off first in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

After some thrilling encounters in the round-robin stage, the Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2018 moves into its knock-out stages with two exciting Semi-Finals and one placing stage match lined up for tomorrow. Here's how the fixtures look on 27th October.#IndiaKaGame #HeroACT2018 pic.twitter.com/q8x13X1WJQ

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) October 26, 2018

India qualified as the top team with 13 points from five games. Archrivals Pakistan finished second on 10 points ahead of Malaysia on account of a better goal difference, while Japan were fourth with seven points.

India finish the pool stage of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2018 on top of the standings while Pakistan claim the second position after a decisive victory against Malaysia. Here are the final standings of the competition as on 25th October 2018.#IndiaKaGame #HeroACT2018 pic.twitter.com/GjoLZyQY61

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) October 26, 2018

The final will be held on Sunday (October 28).

The Manpreet Singh-led India have been on a roll in the tournament beating fancied teams one after the other.

They began the campaign with with a 11-0 win against the hosts. It was followed by a resounding 3-1 win over archrivals Pakistan and they then followed it with an emphatic 9-0 thrashing of Japan, who had been crowned the Asian Games champions in Jakarata in August.

Though they were held to a goalless draw by Malaysia in the penultimate tie, in the last round-robin tie, the Men in Blue outclassed South Korea 4-1 to top the table and earn a crack at Japan who finished fourth in the standings.

The ongoing Asian Champions Trophy being the last tournament before the season-ending World Cup in Bhubaneswar, the Indians would be desperate to prove their critics wrong with another strong performance.

India would be eager to prove that the disappointing bronze at the Jakarta Asian Games was just an aberration with another big morale-boosting win over Japan.

India's chief coach Harendra Singh said the final against Japan will be a completely new game for his side.

"I would like my boys to play aggressive hockey with control over their emotions. The semi-final will be a different ball game. The result or score-line of our last encounter with Japan in the preliminary league will have no significance when the semi-final gets underway on Saturday," Harendra said on the eve of the match.

Japan, on the other hand, have fielded six youngsters in the squad after their gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in their bid to focus on a long-term team-building exercise.

Japan are the only team among the semi-finalists here who have not qualified for the World Cup. Japan, however, will play for pride and find a way to blunt the Indian attack.

Their recent habit of turning the form-book on its head will cause some unease for their rivals.

"I have always said that India will have an edge nine times out of our 10 encounters. We're hoping that Saturday will be that one time when we go out and defeat them," Japan coach Siegfried Aikman said.

India and Pakistan are the most successful teams in the tournament history having shared the title twice each in four previous editions. India had defeated Pakistan 3-2 in the 2016 edition's final held in Kuantan, Malaysia.

(With inputs from PTI and other sources)

Match starts at 10.40 PM IST

Live on Star Sports Network

Live streaming on Hotstar