Dutch beat India 2-1, shatter hockey World Cup dreams
Harendra Singh’s side succumbs to dogged Dutch, Belgium overcome Germany
BHUBANESWAR: India let history slip out of its hands with a heartbreaking 1-2 quarterfinal defeat against the Netherlands in the men’s hockey World Cup, a result that left the young players of the team crying on the pitch. The defeat ended India’s long cherished dream of lifting the trophy only for the second time after its lone triumph in 1975 at Kuala Lumpur.
BHUBANESWAR: The deafening roars died and tears in the eyes of the players evoked one story – India’s dream of winning a World Cup medal had come crashing after Netherlands showed the hosts the exit door with an exciting 2-1 quarter-final victory on Thursday.
Three-time winners Netherlands showed why they are such a formidable force by making those crucial stages count. Perhaps India, the youngest team in the fray, were a bit too inexperienced. Crucial mistakes by the Manpreet Singh-led team and smart play by the Dutch resulted in the latter progressing to their third consecutive World Cup semi-final, where they will take on defending champions Australia on Saturday.
With the energy levels high and the vociferous crowd behind them, India started making circle penetrations from the start. The first big moment came in the 12th minute when India converted the first penalty corner of the match. Harmanpreet Singh’s flick was blocked by a rusher and after an attempt was blocked a second time, Akashdeep Singh put India ahead with a reverse flick.
Though India matched Netherlands for most of the contest, the European champions showed their pace when it mattered. With just 10 seconds to go for the first quarter and India in charge of the contest, the hosts fouled right outside their striking circle. Even before Harendra Singh’s boys realised, the Dutch drew parity with Thierry Brinkman’s clever deflection off the hit from the top of the circle.
“The equaliser came out of nothing and it built our momentum. Though the turning point was the second half, our goal in the dying moments of the first half also played a crucial role,” said Dutch defender Sander Baart. Star player Jeroen Hertzberger echoed the views. “The quarter is of 15 minutes, not 14:52
seconds. We were attentive till the last and it worked for us.”
India’s two other moments of inexperience showed when they were reduced to three defenders during a penalty corner in the 50th minute as Amit Rohidas was asked to leave for running out before the whistle. With one less defender, Mink van der Weerden put the Dutch ahead.
Three minutes later, Rohidas’ aggressive counter resulted in a yellow card, reducing India to 10 men for the rest of the contest.
‘POOR UMPIRING’
Harendra partly blamed the loss on umpiring decisions. “I would like to tender my apologies. We didn’t do what we had to. If the umpires don’t improve, we will face these type of results. Can anyone define Rohidas’ 10-minute yellow? What about Manpreet being pushed from behind? We have lost two major tournaments (Asian Games is the other) this year (due to umpiring),” he said.
BELGIUM PIP GERMANY
World No 3 Belgium stormed into the semi-finals, rallying to a 2-1 victory over two-time champions Germany in the other quarter-final. They will face England in the semis. It was a tussle between Belgium strikers against Germany defenders and the former came out on top. Belgium’s superiority showed in the nine penalty corners they forced while Germany could not earn even one.
Alexander Hendrickx’s 18thminute penalty-corner conversion and Tom Boon’s 50th-minute rebound goal were enough for the 2017 European Championships silver medalists after Dieter Linnekogel had put Germany, the world No 6, ahead in the 14th minute.
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I would like to tender my apologies. We didn’t do what we had to. If the umpires don’t improve, we will face these type of results.
HARENDRA SINGH, India coach
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Though the turning point was the second half, our first goal in the dying moments of the first half also played a crucial role. SANDER BAART, Netherlands player