Spain conquered, England test awaits India in men’s hockey World Cup | Hockey News



ROURKELA: A perfect start to the campaign with a dominating victory over Spain, notwithstanding, India will face a stern test when they face an equally impressive England in their second FIH Men’s pool game hockey world cup here on Sunday.
India outclassed Spain 2-0 with a near-flawless display in their Pool D opener on Friday at the brand new Birsa Munda Stadium, but England are an equally, if not more, tough team.

The home side can’t let go of the intensity and quality they showed against Spain as England are also top after a 5-0 thrashing of Wales in their Champions League game. opening.
Driven by a packed crowd at the 21,000 capacity Birsa Munda Stadium, India presented superb attacking hockey in the first two quarters and scored through home hero Amit Rohidas from a corner kick before Hardik Singh doubles the bet with a brilliant solo effort.
Skipper Harmanpreet Singh and his assistant Rohidas then produced a defensive masterclass – which impressed head coach Graham Reid.
Harmanpreet and Co. would be looking to put on another solid defensive display against England, who have scored at least one goal apiece in the four quarters.
“It’s good to get the first game. What was nice was the defensive effort and we managed the ball very well. There weren’t too many people who didn’t play well “That’s what you need to win a World Cup. We need to continue in the next game,” Reid said.
“The boys managed to get the ball out of the goal. We also advanced a lot and that was very important. We were the first with the ball and that makes a big difference in this kind of game.”
Veteran PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak were also in their element in front of the Indian goal but their England counterpart Oliver Payne was no less so as he thwarted some determined Welsh efforts, particularly in the final quarter.
The only weakness for the Indians was penalty corners as they could not directly convert any of the five they got against Spain.
Harmanpreet, the team’s leading player and top scorer in almost every tournament in recent years, had an off day by his high standards as he missed a penalty shot in addition to failing to find the target in the penalty corners.
He admitted his below par display after the game and will be looking to make amends against England.
Not being able to convert penalty corners can cost India dearly against a team like England.
The Indian players will also have to be careful before entering the referee’s book as they had to play most of the last quarter without Abhishek, who was shown a yellow card for a foul.
A win against England is important as it will bring India closer to the quarter-finals. The hosts will relish their chances against Wales, the lowest-ranked team in the group in 15th place, to top the pool, considered a group of death.
England are a rung above India in fifth place in the world and there isn’t much to differentiate between the two sides over the past year and historically as well.
Last year, the two teams played three games against each other with their last match, played at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, ending in a 4-4 draw. They played out a 3-3 draw in the first leg of the FIH Pro League before India won 4-3 in the second, both games played in April.
Nick Bandurak, who was the 2002 CWG top scorer with 11 goals, was on target against Wales, as was Phil Roper who was another prolific player at Birmingham. England scored three goals from the field, Nicholas Park’s third while Liam Ansell netted twice from the penalty spot.
Historically, India had won 10 games to England’s seven while four games ended in draws.
Spain will face Wales in another Pool D match here on Sunday.
Squads (from):
India: Abhishek, Surender Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Lalit Upadhyay, Krishan Pathak, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, PR Sreejesh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Akashdeep Singh, Amit Rohidas (vice-captain), Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sukhjeet Singh
England: David Ames (captain), James Albery, Liam Ansell, Nick Bandurak, Will Calnan, David Condon, David Goodfield, Harry Martin, James Mazarelo, Nick Park, Ollie Payne, Phil Roper, Scott Rushmere, Liam Sanford, Tom Sorsby, Zach Wallace, Jack Waller, Sam Ward.
The match starts at 7 p.m. IST.



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