S2H Team
India’s women’s team boosted their flagging spirits with a comprehensive 3-1 win over the USA in a FIH Pro League bottom-of-the-table clash at the Kalinga stadium on Friday.
The hosts now move to fifth in the nine-nation league leaving the Americans in the cellar after an encounter that held a bit of recent history.
The US won the last meeting between the two sides 1-0 in the recent Olympic qualifiers in Ranchi last month, raising self-doubts in the Indian camp that marked an ill-fated campaign but one that succeeded for the Americans who booked their ticket to Paris.
The bitter hangover of failure haunted India here and it somewhat reflected in three defeats on the trot in the five-nation mini-tournament of the league here.
However, the Indian girls got their act together today with a dominance that extended over two-thirds of the match which reflected in a 2-0 lead by halftime with spectacular goals before the Americans began to stage a recovery by pulling a goal back before the three-quarter break.
India however sealed three points in the fourth quarter with a third and now travel to Rourkela for another mini tournament, a subset of the league.
It was a day of field goals and all of India’s strikes were spectacular efforts that thrilled the sparse crowd of loyal locals standing firmly behind their team despite the bitter disappointment of the days just gone by.
Vandana Katariya — who else — shot the home team ahead with an overhead swat from close range in the ninth minute. After the US turned the ball over, Sangita paved the way for the goal with a thrust near the right-hand baseline that got a touch from Sonnika before falling nicely for Vandana who brought up her 92nd goal in 241 internationals.
India carried their ascendancy into the second quarter. This time, Vandana found Deepika, who executed a sublime back-hander that curled nicely into the far top corner of the goal, leaving the goalkeeper a spectator in the 26th minute.
The goals were crucial given India’s continued poor performance at four penalty corners earned and missed chances that fell to Lalriamsami, Neha Goel and Deepika herself.
The advantage turned crucial as the US began to take control midway through the third quarter with flashes of skill that could do their Asian rivals proud.
Brook Deberdine provided sparkle moving from the right edge of the circle to find Sanne Caarls whose fortuitous back-hander couldn’t brook advice from an umpire’s referral for back-stick and flummoxed India captain Savita Punia in goal who stuck out her right pad in vain at the near post in the 42nd minute.
India stifled USA’s bid to equalize at the start of the fourth and final quarter but failed to regain their two-goal cushion when Deepika’s first touch let her down after Salima, the local livewire midfielder, laid an excellent pass.
A wasted penalty corner followed but India ensured they wouldn’t be punished for their prodigality with a touch of class by Player-of-the-Match Deepika who turned provider in the 56th minute with a mesmerizing run on the left flank that ended with a precise ball to Salima to deflect on the run near the far post.
The Netherlands beat Australia 6-2 earlier in the day to consolidate their position at the top of the table and leave their opponents in third spot.