Hindustan Times: India go down fighting to Belgium in second match of FIH Pro League

Sandip Sikdar

India are now placed second in the standings of the second edition of the FIH Pro League with eight points from four games, while Belgium are at the top with 14 points.

A couple of lapses in the defence is all that mattered in the end. Despite greater ball-possession, accuracy, circle entries, penalty corners and an overall better game than on Saturday, the Indian hockey team went down 2-3 to world No.1 Belgium in a closely fought FIH Pro League contest at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday. “I think the Indian team played better today despite the result,” said Belgium head coach Shane McLeod referring to India’s 2-1 victory the night before. That victory was based more on the performance of the two goalkeepers—PR Sreejesh and Krishan Pathak—who were otherworldly amid very average performances, fending off as many as 40 circle entries—compared to India’s 18—and 24 shots on goal against the hosts’ six.

The Manpreet Singh-led outfit were much better on Sunday night, save for a couple of defensive errors which cost them two goals and as a result the match. As a unit, they were much more structured with 28 circle entries—to Belgium’s 19—and had 12 shots at goal against Belgium’s nine, giving chief coach Graham Reid satisfaction.

“Today was a performance we can repeat. We created opportunities – that’s what we have to do. We gifted them two goals which you can’t. We just need to execute when we create opportunities; put them in the goal,” said Reid, who felt the team lacked in defence. “Last night we were strong in defence and stopped them. Tonight we didn’t do it upfront.”

Reid made four changes to the winning combination, part of trying and testing players ahead of the Olympics. So Gurinder Singh, Birendra Lakra, Chinglensana Singh and Gursahibjit Singh came in for Dilpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh and Nilakanta Sharma.

With their ego and pride hurt after Saturday’s loss, the world and European champions came out with a lot more zeal. They went on the offensive and earned their lone penalty corner (PC) in the third minute which Alexander Hendrickx (3rd) converted with his flick hitting the roof of the net.

“We really wanted to win. We didn’t want to lose two in a row which doesn’t happen too often. The players wanted to come back after yesterday’s game. Nobody wanted to lose this game,” said Belgium captain Thomas Briels.

Unlike Saturday, the burden of levelling the score was now on India. The world No.4 kept pressing which resulted in a goal seconds from the first quarter hooter. True to his class, defender Surender Kumar ran along the backline to create a chance by evading four Belgian fullbacks brilliantly. He passed it to Vivek Sagar Prasad (15th) who opened the scoring by slipping the ball past World Goalkeeper of the Year Vincent Vanasch. “India started really fast yesterday and we had to catch up. Today we set the pace,” said McLeod.

Two minutes into the second quarter, the Indian defence completely faltered as Simon Gougnard’s pass evaded as many as five Indian defenders and found Nicolas de Kerpel (17th), who deflected the pass past goalkeeper Krishan Pathak giving ‘Red Lions’ the lead again.

But after pushback Lalit Upadhyay tackled the ball into the Belgian circle to earn India’s first penalty corner. Vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh flicked the ball, which rebounded twice before finding Odisha’s Amit Rohidas (17th), who slapped it in to the delight of his home crowd.

The game moved back and forth but nine minutes later Harmanpreet, who was trying to pass the ball to Surender at the other end of the flank, let the ball loose. Belgium pounced on the opportunity with Player-of-the-Match Nicolas de Kerpel passing it to Maxime Plennevaux (26th), who scored his second.

“We kept losing the ball, when that happens you have to get the ball off the opposition,” said Reid.

India stepped up in the second half. Skipper Manpreet, Rohidas, forward Mandeep Singh created several opportunities which could have been converted but each time they were thwarted by the Arthur van Doren-led defence.

The Belgians countered too but PR Sreejesh continued to remain the cynosure of India’s defence, stepping up each time Belgium made a potential attempt. Carrying forward his form from Saturday, he foiled every Belgian attempt.

India kept pressing and earned two more PCs but failed to convert. “We were trying to put pressure on them and did an excellent job. We didn’t give them time to get their head up,” added Reid. India, who are still second in the standings with eight points behind Belgium, will next take on Australia on February 21 and 22.