Lacklustre India goes down to Netherlands in HWL Final

11/30/2015

A lacklustre Indian team suffered a 1-3 defeat against defending champions Netherlands in their last group match of Pool B in the Hockey World League Final 2015 at Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Raipur on Monday. With two defeats in three games, India finished at the bottom of Pool B and will now face the top team in Pool A in the quarter-final.

India went into the match against defending champions Netherlands on the back of a spirited performance against Olympic champions Germany in the second group game. After the 1-1 draw on Saturday against Germany, the hosts needed a win in the last group match of Pool B to move up in the table.

The head to head record between the teams was in favour of Netherlands, with only one win for the hosts in the last eighteen years – which came during the last meeting between the two teams in the Champions Trophy last year. The hosts downed the World No.2 side 3-2 at Bhubaneswar in a close match in the pool stages. Roelant Oltmans continued the 4-3-3 formation he used against Germany with SV Sunil coming for Amir Khan. VR Raghunath who was playing his 200th International match started on the bench.

On the other hand, Netherlands were the table toppers going into the match against India with four points from two games. After a scoreless draw in the first match against Germany, Netherlands notched up a 3-2 victory in a close encounter against Argentina. Netherlands started in a 4-3-3 formation as well, with Jaap Stockmann in goal and captain Robert Van Der Horst and penalty corner expert Mink Van Der Weerden starting in defence.

Unlike the first two matches, India started the first quarter with real urgency by putting pressure on the Dutch defence. However, the attacking intent of India reduced as the quarter went on and the Dutch enjoyed the majority of possession in the first quarter.

The defending champions went down to ten men in the ninth minute with Floris Van der Linden receiving a green card for a foul. The best chance of the quarter fell to the Indians as Ramandeep Singh missed from close range. India ended the first quarter as the happier of two teams with a first quarter clean sheet for the first time in the tournament.

The second quarter had a similar story to the first with the Dutch enjoying majority of the possession, but they struggled to convert the possession into any credible threat with casual errors in the shooting circle. India’s defence controlled the Dutch attack admirably while the forwards SV Sunil and Ramandeep used the flanks in search of the opening goal. Teams went into the half time break with the score at 0-0 ruing the missed opportunities.

India raced out of the blocks in the second half by putting pressure on the Dutch defence. The pressure almost paid off when Manpreet Singh found Akashdeep Singh inches away from goal. A poor touch by the forward quashed India’s hopes of going ahead.

Netherlands earned the first penalty corner of the match in the 35th minute by splitting the Indian defence wide open. Mink Van Der Weerden gave the Dutch the lead with a grounded flick into the goal, leaving PR Sreejesh with no chance. With Rupinder Pal out after receiving a green card, Indian defence went to sleep in the final minutes of the quarter to go 2-0 down. Mirco Pruijser found himself alone in the shooting circle to score an easy goal to leave India a mountain to climb in the final quarter.

India earned their first penalty corner of the match within minutes of the final quarter. Rupinder Pal Singh’s drag-flick found Jaap Stockmann in the goal, but an alert Chinglensana Singh capitalized on the rebound to pull one back for India. With thirteen minutes to go for the final hooter, India pushed forward everyone in search of the equaliser.

The Dutch took advantage of the less number of players in the Indian half and ended India’s hopes of a comeback with a brilliant finish from Rovel Bovendeert in the 54th minute. The hosts almost got another goal in the 56th minute with Amir Khan’s deflection going inches wide of the Dutch goal and with it India’s hopes.

With two defeat in three games, India finished bottom of Pool B with one point and will now face the top team in Pool A in the quarter-final.