New Delhi: India’s journey in the Hero Hockey World League Final faces a seemingly insurmountable hurdle as they take on formidable Australia in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
After woeful performances in their first two matches, the hosts’ turnaround against Germany was remarkable.
India battled to a morale-boosting 3-3 draw against the European powerhouse. For once, the team worked like a well-jointed unit and only a yellow card to defender V.R. Raghunath and an error in judgement on the part of skipper Sardar Singh a minute from the final hooter denied them victory over the world’s top-ranked team.
The new look forwardline which includes a couple of rookies in Affan Yousuf and Nikkin Thimmaiah seemed like an effective combination for the first time in the tournament and kept the German defence on their toes with regular penetrations into the rival area. Their co-ordination with the Sardar-led mid-field was also much improved.
The defence also came up with a sharper performance. “We did several things better today. We were trying to improve in different areas. We played better against quality opponents like Germany. I think they did not play that well today,” a much-relieved coach Terry Walsh said at the post-match press conference.
“We were fighting for an opportunity to play against Argentina which didn’t materialise. We played with much more authority and quality. The defence was very well organised,” he added.
The team from Down Under have been impressive during the group matches. They started their campaign with a 3-2 victory over Belgium before suffering a narrow 0-1 loss to Holland.
But they put that disappointment behind and underlined their class with a totally dominant performance during the 6-1 thrashing of high-flying Argentina on Monday.
India will need to produce a repeat of their performance against Germany in order to have any chance of pulling off an upset. The three dragflickers — Rupinderpal Singh, Raghunath and Amit Rohidas — will require to step up in the penalty corner chances that come their way. One of the pre-tournament favourites, Australia will be a tough nut to crack for India, who are struggling to find their footing in world hockey.
Walsh is aware of the enormity of the task facing his team. “Australia are a very high quality team and it will be a big challenge for us to keep ourselves orgainsed and make a match,” he said on Monday. “But we will try to give our best.”
In the other quarter-finals of the day, England play Belgium, Germany will lock horns with the Netherlands and Argentina face New Zealand.
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India vs Australia
