Error prone India failed to live up the expectation, going 2-3 down to England in its second match today at the Kalinga stadium, Bhubneswar. India struck two late goals to make amends for their earlier lethargic display but an opportune Samuel Ward gave his side a thump up with a reverse shot that thundered into the net three minutes before the hooter after outsmarting three markers inside D to post the winner in a manner that befitted their domination throughout the encounter.
It was yet again a story of conceding late goals and also India’s inability to close down the match when the things are turning against.
In the last HWL Finals in Raipur, India defeated England in the quarterfinal.
Indian forwards were again found wanting missing out on scoring many occasions, often Mandeep Singh seen unable to connect good balls served to him inside the circle. But the error prone India was exposed by the English side. The loss pushed the hosts to the bottom of points table after Day 2 of the Hockey World League Finals here in Bhubneswar.
Match 4 of the day was much expected, every seat in the stands were occupied. India however did not show the energy and precision they showcased a day earlier against Australia.
After a failed penalty corner conversion, England went up a minute later when David Goodfield struck from a close angle from the right baseline (1-0). It was in the 25th minute.
Midway in the third quarter, Sam Ward enhanced the lead after Harmanpreet Singh fumbled with a rival’s overhead. As he failed to stop a overhead that landed inside D, Sam sensed goal, and quickly blasted the ball into open net (2-0).
Indians pressed hard in the last quarter and as a result got a penalty corner with a successful referral for a wrong side stick tackle of Sunil.
Rupinderpal took the drag aiming the centre. Goalie blocked it but Akashdeep Singh tapped in the short rebound (2-1) in the 50th minute.
Three Minutes later, Rupinderpal sounded the board (2-2), leading to wide celebrations. However, Sam’s acrobatic goal in the 57th minute silenced all.
Over all it was an error prone game by Indians. Forwards fumbled. They are poor inside circle. On the other hand, the English were precise and always threatening to punish the rival side’s smallest of mistakes, which ultimately told on the scored board.
Indian coach Sojerd Marinje pulled Indian goalie out for the last three minutes to narrow the gap, but the one man extra was evened out as Akashdeep would immediately get an yellow card suspension for a frustrated shoving of rival player inside D.
Over all, India needs to play a flawless hockey and bring back the freeflow one which all saw on the opening day.
Day 2 of Hockey World League Finals is a busy one. All Eight teams were on action. The London HWL SFs finalist Argentina and Belgium played their first match which turned out to be a stunner. Argentina bowed down to the belgium’s precision in the circle. Argentina thus faced a close defeat 2-3.
Match No.4 followed the trend. Spain surprised Netherlands for a fluent 3-2 victory.
Australia and Germany played an exciting hockey before the Match of the Day between the host and England was played out. In the match No.5 Australia trailed for much part of the game by an odd goal, but bounced back in time, striking twice in the later stages. Just two mins and 43 sec before the final whistle Germany converted its last penalty corner to draw level 2-2. The match turned physical, both Jeremy Hayward and Chris Ruhr simultaneously got yellow cards
M.No.3: YOUNG Player:Maico Casella (Argentina)
M.No.3: Man of the Match:Loick Luypaert (Belgium)
M.No.4: YOUNG Player:Enrique Gonzalez (Spain)
M.No.4: Man of the Match:Ricardo Santana (Spain)
M.No.5: YOUNG Player:Lachlan Sharp (Australia)
M.No.5: Man of the Match:Jake Whetton(Australia)
M.No.6: Young Player:Harmanpreet Singh (India)
M.No.6: Man of the Match:Samuel Ward (England)