The conditions were not favourable. Incessant rain had marred the first game of the evening between England and Netherlands, which ended 1-0 in favour of the Dutch. There were evens doubts over whether the first semi-final will take place. However, the crowd at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar stood their ground as they waited for India’s clash against Olympic champions Argentina to begin in the Hockey World League Final (HWL Final) on Friday.
In the end, India put out a heartening performance despite losing 1-0.
Weather plays spoilsport
The conditions were dreadful. Even when players struck the ball with great velocity, it stopped in its tracks midway due to the puddles that were formed. Players were falling over each other with couple of them getting hit in the eye with the hockey sticks as well.
India striker Akashdeep Singh was one of the unlucky players who were at the receiving end of a stick. Argentina’s Alan Andino was hit in the eye with the ball surprisingly sprung up while he went to attack it. In the fourth quarter, India defender Harmanpreet Singh was also struck in the knee as he slipped while preventing an Argentine to enter the 23-yard circle.
Field goals were next to impossible owing to the heavy pitch conditions. The relentless downpour ensured that India could not play to their strength, fast paced counter-attacks.
However, both teams battled it out, each wanting a win on their hands.
PC conversion hurts India yet again
In the end, it all came down to Argentina’s only penalty corner, which they converted thanks to Gonzalo Peillat to ensure that the Olympic champions reached their first HWL Final. India on the other hand had two penalty corners, which they failed to convert.
Penalty corner conversion has hurt India in the past as well, including the Asia Cup, which they won. On Friday, Rupinder Singh Pal skied the first attempt thanks to a heavy deflection by the opposition. His second attempt went wide, which summed up India’s night.
India’s penalty corner conversion rate during the Asia Cup was 21.88%. Out of 32 PCs, they converted only seven. In the three pool games in the HWL Final, India converted two out of 13. Against Belgium, they put up a better show by converting two of four. However, on Friday, when it was needed the most, India fell short.
Both teams knew how crucial PCs were going to be in this match given the conditions. Argentina grabbed the opportunity while India squandered it.
India show heart
However, despite the loss, India showed heart. Even though they were 1-0 down, they refused to get bowed down by the pressure. They made a tactical switch after the first half, which saw India stick to short passes. And eventually, they tried aerial attacks without the fear of being hit on the counter.
Manpreet Singh had a bad day at the office as he was shown a yellow card and was missing for ten minutes due to a sliding tackle. But India made sure they did not concede during this period and were at their defensive best.
In the fourth quarter, Akashdeep Singh and Gurjant Singh came close to equalising for India but the Argentinean defence stood strong. In the fourth quarter, India had 81% possession in Argentina’s half. India had five shots on goal compared to Argentina’s four. Even the circle entries were 11 to 10 in India’s favour. The fearless brand of hockey they displayed against Belgium was seen in the final quarter and that should soften the blow of the defeat for Sjoerd Marijne and Co. They created numerous scoring chances but were let down by their finishing.
On Sunday, they will have a chance of fighting it out for bronze, against defending champions Australia or Germany – a podium finish at such a competitive event will be a shot in the arm for this young team.