It’s was an evening packed with spirited Hockey. An evening that each one of the seven thousand plus crowd present at the Kalinga Stadium will remember in times to come. An evening that tens of thousands of Indian Hockey fans waited for decades.
9th ranked India beat World Cup winners Netherlands 3-2 in a stellar performance at the ongoing Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar.
The last time India beat Netherlands at the Champions Trophy was twenty-eight years back, at Karachi.
For India the goals came from SV Sunil (33rd minute), Manpreet (47th) and Rupinderpal (49th). For the Dutch, Mink van der Weerden scored a brace (36th and 58th).
It was a nervous start for India. In the 5th minute, Rupinderpal saved the blushes for India when Gurjinder while clearing a Dutch move at the goalmouth, mis-passed the ball back to the men in Orange. On another occasion, on a feed from a sprinting Sardara, Gurbaj was superbly tackled by Constantijn Jonker at the edge of Dutch circle.
But India looked composed, held their nerves and prevented the Dutch from taking a real hit at the Indian post. At more than a few occasions, eight Indian were seen countering four opponents inside the Indian circle.
The first half witnessed classy Hockey from both the teams. Both teams employed a defensive strategy, picking up on counters and at one stage it looked like anybody’s game.
India missed on an opportunity to draw first blood in the 24th minute when Martin Havenga’s stick-check foul against Ramandeep resulted in a short corner for India.
Gurjinder’s flick was too predictable for the Dutch goalkeeper who blocked it straight-on. Another short corner followed. Manpreet failed to stop the ball and India squandered their best chance to break the deadlock.
Moments before the half time, it looked like India’s perennial problem of slack play in the final minutes of a period have returned. The Dutch earned a penalty corner from a slap-shot into the Indian cage. Interestingly, there were five Indians in the circle and no Dutchmen was present; still the shot found the foot of Manpreet. To India’s relief, the man of the match in the first game, Indian custodian Sreejesh cleared the rising flick with his left hand.
Into the second half, it was apparent that India is playing to a script. They pressed the Dutch harder and were duly rewarded in the 33rd minute. A long through ball from Gurjinder found a deflection from Sunil’s stick and as the vociferous crowd roared in the electrified atmosphere, scoreboard read 1-0 in favor of India.
Quite similar to the previous game against Argentina, the Indian lead was short-lived. In the 36th minute, Gurjinder fouled conceding a short corner to Netherlands. On the follow-up penalty corner, Mink van der Weerden sent down a rocket high into the nets, out of reach of substituted goalkeeper, Harjot Singh.
The third quarter finished 1-1 but with India attacking more than before, Dutch reciprocating in kind and not falling into complete defence, the stage looked set for a nail-biting finish.
In the 47th minute, a kneeling Danish got a cross from Gurbaj in Holland’s circle. He swept it into Netherlands’ cage but the goalkeeper, Blaak padded it. Unfortunately for the Dutch, Manpreet got the lose ball and invaluable seconds to himself. He hit it hard and Indians were up again 2-1. The sheer force that he exerted into that dispatch must have inspired the organizers to award him the ‘Man of the Match’ award at the end of the game.
Two minutes later, the sturdy Rupinderpal scored on a low flick putting India ahead 3-1.
From hereon, Indian attackers turned impertinent and they upped their forays into the Dutch citadel. The World Cup winners buckled under pressure and resorted to aggressive tactics resulting in a Green Card for var den Weerden in the 53rd minute, followed by an injury to Seve van Ass.
The ’14 Olympics Silver medallist could manage to pull one back in the 58th minute thereby extending the excitement to the final hooter. Weerden scored on a penalty corner in the similar fashion as that of his first goal earlier.
The final minute scare came to haunt India again when with just seconds to spare, Rogier Hofman took a reverse-flick at the Indian goal. The young Harjot Singh exhibited superb reflexes palming off the incoming ball. Post the match, an elated Indian coach, Roelant Oltmans, gave Singh a pat-on-the-back for sealing a victory for India.
India have finished 3rd in the Pool B and go on to play Belgium, placed 2nd in Pool A, in the Quarter Finals. The match is scheduled for Thursday.