2023 Hockey World Cup: In Sunday’s second Pool D match in Rourkela. India and England played to a hard-fought goalless draw
India remained in contention for a direct quarterfinal berth. In the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in Rourkela on Sunday drawing England goalless in an entertaining pool match.
At the packed Birsa Munda Stadium, both teams had numerous chances to force a result in a Pool D match that was evenly matched, but neither team managed to score.
India had four penalty corners, while England had eight. However, the penalty corner defense of the home team was flawless.
India will play Wales and England will play Spain on January 19 at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, respectively, to determine who will win the pool and advance to the quarterfinals.
England and India currently have four points from two matches between them. The team with a better goal difference will be ranked higher. If the two teams are on equal points and have won the same number of games.
After defeating Wales 5-0 in their first match, England now has a goal difference of plus five. While India, who had beaten Spain 2-0, has a goal difference of plus two. India had also won their first match.
England was the dominant team in the first quarter, capturing five consecutive penalty corners. But India did a good job of protecting the PCs because Manpreet Singh was the first to get out and cut off the angle.
India’s first penalty corner was won by Mandeep Singh toward the end of the first quarter, but Manpreet’s stop wasn’t great, so captain Harmanpreet Singh had to stop his drag flick.
When Wallace Zachary’s shot from inside the Indian circle hit Krishan Bahadur Pathak high in the second quarter. England got their sixth power play, but they wasted it once more.
England gained their seventh penalty corner as they continued to enter the Indian circle. But first rusher Amit Rohidas was quick enough to stop the strike.
For a few minutes, it was an end-to-end play before Harmanpreet got India the second penalty corner of the match, but he missed it.
Hardik Singh attempted a fierce reverse shot from the top of the England circle in the 24th minute after Nilam Sanjeep Xess made a last-minute clearance in the Indian ‘D,’ but missed the goal by a hair.
England was able to clear after a scramble inside the circle, but India pressed for their fourth PC. The next player to try his luck was Varun Kumar, but his shot was unsuccessful.
India was the dominant team in the second quarter. But they were unable to score, and the game remained scoreless at halftime.
In the 37th minute, David Condon tried, but it went wide. India, on the other hand, was unfortunate not to take the lead the following minute. As Hardik’s double shot was saved by the England goalie.
The match got more exciting, and it was England’s turn to get a golden opportunity. The Indian defense let Sam Ward take a reverse shot from a one-on-one situation with goalie P R Sreejesh, but it missed the goal.
India responded quickly, and Mandep missed a fantastic opportunity to score in the 41st minute after receiving a free kick just above the England goal line.
After the ball landed in the English goal, the umpire ruled that it had already struck an Indian leg. Despite the fact that the 21,000-strong crowd thought India had taken the lead in the final minute of the third quarter, which was evenly contested.
India was down one man in the final few minutes of the game. England tried to score a goal but couldn’t break through the home team’s defense. England received a PC in the last minute, but it was wasted.