JMWC 2016: QF4 Scary quarterfinal but success for India

India entered the semifinal of the home Junior World Cup after dishing out a thrilling victory over fighting Spain the quarters today in Lucknow.

Its India’s fourth semifinal entry in the annals of Junior World Cup, after missing out in the last two editions.

India was trailing by a solitary goal for long spells before it woke up to win the hearts of full stands.

Marc Serrahima in the 22nd minute silenced the crowd with an immaculate conversion of first penalty corner that came after frustrating India in its two penalty corner attempts.

The hosts in this spell were very tentative, sluggish and its was obvious they buckle under pressure of the crowd.

However, the second half was India’s.

India played perfect hockey in the second half unlike the error prone first half. And it paid dividends

Simranjit Singh’s tap in goal from close range in the 56th minute off India’s fifth penalty corner gave life to struggling India and level the score 1-1.

Thereafter, Harmanpreet Singh came to his form to strike off the eighth penalty corner to give India the semifinal berth.

The decision to award this penalty corner turned out to be somewhat debatable, as it seemed the goalie has cleared a shot, but the umpire considered it as a wilful clearance out of backline.

Replays proved it was a deliberate kicking of ball from the backline which definitely entails penalty corner.

India struggled throughout first half with sloppy plays and mediocre basics but dominated the next session.

It got a series of penalty corners but the Spain goalkeeper would not buckle.

When India struggled, at times in the second session, Harmanpreet Singh and Dipsan Tirkey showed extraordinary game sense and patience in keeping Indian citadel safe.

Harmanpreet Singh was declared Man of the Match

“We played normal game when things were going tough, we did not panic. This gave us this good result” he said.