India’s title dreams hinge on final 2 games

Eindhoven, June 9

The Indian men’s hockey team will get little time to recover from two gruelling matches as they return to the field for their final two games of the FIH Pro League season.

After back-to-back matches against hosts Netherlands and Argentina, India had just one day’s break before their return leg matches against the two teams. India, who sit atop the table with 26 points from 14 matches, take on the Dutch tomorrow before finishing off the season with a game against the South Americans on Sunday.

With Great Britain breathing down their neck — they trail India by one point but have two games in hand — India must win their final matches to stand any chance of winning the Pro League title for the first time.

After being beaten 4-1 by Netherlands two days ago, India improved their game to fight past Argentina with a 3-0 win yesterday. India dominated possession and created many chances, including six penalty corners and two penalty strokes, against Netherlands. While they failed to make the opportunities count, India’s defence was also guilty of switching off. Against the tricky Argentinians, who frustrate the opposition with a tight defence and hit on the counter, India showed much more patience. They held their structure well and converted their chances.

“I think we created so many chances but defensively we played very well as a team,” India captain Harmanpreet Singh said. “Our structure was good and when we got the chance we scored. Our focus was to keep the ball and let them run and once we got the good opportunities we went for it.” — Agencies