New Delhi, 18 Jan 2014: The Red Lions broke the hearts of a vociferous crowd of about 3000 by scoring two late goals in the space of two minutes and thrashed India’s hopes of finishing 5th in the tournament. Fifth-ranked Belgium thus retained its spot on the world table and India, despite the loss, jumped to 7th in world rankings from the current 10th by virtue of finishing 6th.
The Indian coach was pleased with the overall performance in the tournament but was unhappy with the leisurely management of skills in this match.
Coorgi player from Karnataka, Chandanda Thimmaiah broke the deadlock after the teams went goalless for almost an hour. He struck in the 59 minute goal to celebrate his 24th birthday and put India in the lead but his birthday party was spoiled by the Belgian brace in the last four minutes of the match.
In a fast-paced game in the first session, India showed their prowess of skill and artistry to the speed and power of the Belgium team but both the teams failed to get their act together at the all-important end. Both the teams excelled in their defence and were afraid to leave space for the forwards. The finishing of both teams left a lot to be desired, though.
The Indian defence stood well and PR Sreejesh under the bar thwarted any ball that the defence let loose. The penalty corner defence too was good with India thwarting four short corners from Belgium. However, they too failed to convert during the set-piece drill when Rupinder’s flick was well blocked by the rival goalie in the 53rd minute.
The equaliser for Belgium came through Florent van Aubel in the 67th minute and then Tom Boon struck one immediately in the very next minute to break the Indian hearts when he converted the short corner without any fuss.
ends