India face Belgium, direct knockout berth at stake
BHUBANESWAR: Sunday’s game against Belgium will not just be India’s toughest game of the World Cup yet but their first real test since the Champions Trophy in June-July when India won silver. Since then, the Harendra Singh-coached side has only played lower-ranked teams, whether it was the bilateral series against New Zealand, the Asian Games or the Asian Champions Trophy.
The hosts know the Pool C contest against the Rio Olympics silver medallists is a virtual prequarterfinal as they would be expected to beat Canada in their final league outing on December 8. A win against world No 3 Belgium will most likely take the Manpreet Singh-led team directly to the quarter-finals while a loss would mean entering the crossover contests that every team would like to avoid.
“We’ll have to think over the moves (in counterattacks). We’ll have to judge where are we getting the gaps from in the first half and during the break the coach will tell us the areas to exploit. Accordingly, we’ll mount our charge,” said forward Mandeep Singh, who scored India’s first goal of the World Cup against South Africa on Wednesday .“We are focussed on our basics. If they’re right, the match will go according to plan. Belgium is a tough team. Their attack and defence are quite strong but we are confident that if we play to our potential, we will win.”
Both Belgium and India would like to make amends and fill the gaps that were on display in their first round encounters on the opening day. Belgium’s early charge fizzled out against Canada, which allowed the world No 11 team to score a goal against the 2017 European Championships silver medallists.
India too had chinks in their armour. Though the 5-0 victory against South Africa doesn’t indicate, there were lapses in the forward line and during penalty corners with Harmanpreet Singh missing both his chances and India only scoring off rebounds.
“We have a pattern (of taking PCs), I’m following that. There is no pressure on me. I got a chance (to take PCs), which is good. They got saved because of good goalkeeping so have to respect that,” said Harmanpreet.
“Belgium plays more of an attacking hockey, so the defenders will have an important role to play in tomorrow’s match,” added Surender Kumar, one of India’s seasoned defenders with over 100 caps.
Though a top team, Belgium have a history of wilting under crowd pressure. That was evident the last time the two teams met here at the Kalinga Stadium when India edged out Belgium 3-2 in penalty shootout in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Hockey World League Final. Also, at the 2017 European Championships final, Belgium were leading 2-0 in the final against hosts Netherlands but the roar of the crowd led them to lose 2-4.