Inconsistency continued to haunt India as they conceded an early goal to lose 0-1 to Belgium and crash out of the title race of the Hockey World league Final here on Saturday.
India conceded a soft goal in the fifth minute of the second semifinal encounter when Cedric Charlier scored from a field strike for Belgium, which eventually separated both the teams at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel stadium.
Indians were slow to get off the blocks as they hardly troubled the Belgian defence in the first two quarters. But the hosts came out with more purpose after the change of ends to create numerous scoring opportunities but their forwardline failed to finish off the moves.
After failing to register a single shot at the opposition goal in the first 30 minutes, India managed 11 tries in the last two quarters but failed to convert those into goals. Indians also enjoyed 59 per cent possession in the match as against their rivals’ 41, while the hosts made 24 circle penetrations compared to Belgium’s 16. Interestingly, both the teams failed to secure a single penalty corner in the entire match.
But things did not look good for India even before the resumption of the match as goalkeeper P R Sreejesh hurt himself above the knee in the warm-up session and did not take part in the mandatory national anthem ceremony, drawing fears that he might not start in the first eleven. However, he recovered in time and took the field.
After the inspired show against Great Britain in the quarterfinals, Indians on Saturday lacked purpose and seemed running out of ideas when the ball was in their possession, at least in the opening half.
India’s pathetic display can be gauged from the fact that they failed to have a single shot in the opposition goal in the first 30 minutes.
It took Belgium just five minutes to surge ahead, courtesy some sloppy defending from the Indians. Carlier scored with a reverse hit from the top of the circle through the legs of Indian custodian Sreejesh after receiving as assist from Jerome Truyens.
In the 11th minute, Belgium could have doubled their lead had it not been for Sreejesh who came out of his line to deny an unmarked Thomas Briels.
In the 16th minute Akashdeep Singh failed to get his sticks to S V Sunil’s cross from the right. Barring this chance, the Indians failed to create any other opportunity in the second quarter.
But after the cross over, it was a completely different India as they dominated the proceedings and had their first real chance at the goal in the 37th minute when SV Sunil set it up for Akashdeep Singh but the striker took plenty of time to get his shot at the goal which was saved by Belgium custodian Vincent Vanasch.
Two minutes later it was Dharamvir Singh’s turn to miss another opportunity when he shot over the bar with only the Belgian goalkeeper to beat.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, it was India all over Belgium as they put relentless pressure on the opposition goal with consistent raids but failed to make them pay.
‘It’s time we cross semis hurdle’
Indian team’s chief coach Roelant Oltmans said it is time the past masters of the game go beyond the last four stage of a major international tournament.
Asked whether he was satisfied with India’s performance in the tournament, Oltmans said: “I am never satisfied. It’s good to be in the semifinals which means that we are close to no.4 but we can be more close. But we failed to cross the semifinals in the last three major tournaments and that is what we have to cope with. The boys deserve to make that step.”
“It is quite an achievement to be in the semifinals of a major tournament but as a team we want to win it. We need to have that belief that we can win this sort of matches.”
Inconsistency continued to haunt India as the hosts conceded an early goal to lose 0-1 to Belgium in the second semifinal.
After failing to register a single shot at the opposition goal in the first 30 minutes, India managed 11 tries in the last two quarters but failed to convert them.
“The first two quarters were for Belgium but I think the next two quarters we played well and belonged to us. We did everything to score a goal. We created chances but sometimes luck is not in your side and that’s part of the game,” he said.
“We were close but just not good enough at the moment.”
Oltmans, however, rued the fact that his wards failed to score enough goals in the tournament.
“The team played well. In the first two quarters they didn’t take enough initiative but in the third and fourth quarter they definitely did. So I am pleased with the way they were able to change the game in the third and fourth quarter. But we need to score on our skills because throughout the tournament we didn’t score enough goals. So far we scored only four goals five matches and that’s not enough,” he said.
Interestingly, it was one of the rare semifinal of an international tournament where the teams failed to secure a single penalty corner.
India skipper Sardar Singh feels the team need to work on their decision making. “Overall performance of the team was good but as the coach said we conceded a soft goal at the start. The third and fourth quarter completely belonged to us. We created plenty of chances but couldn’t avail it. We need to work more on our decision making, our final pass,” he said.
Germany beat Canada 8-3
Meanwhile, Olympic champions Germany spanked lowly Canada 8-3 to finish on a disappointing seventh position in the eight-team HWl Final.
Christopher Ruhr (3rd, 4th minutes) scored two field goals for Germany early on before Moritz Furste (8th) and Niklas Wellen (18th) made the scoreline 4-0 in favour of the Germans.
Germany scored another four goals through lukas Windfeder (24th), Florian Fuchs, Oliver Korn (54th) and Constantin Staib (59th) to register their first win in the tournament. Gordon Johnston (30th), Matthew Guest (41st) and skipper Scott Tupper (49th) were on target for Canada.