Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup Quarterfinal: Can India stop spirited Belgium?

By
Shubhangi Chowdhury
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Bhubaneswar: Defending champions India are poised to outwit European giants Belgium in the quarterfinal of the FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday on 7:30 PM (19:30 IST), largely to their seniors’ detailed notes and their coach’s instruction.

However, as Indian hockey Chief Coach Graham Reid pointed out, the Colts must play their natural style if they really are to win the title for the third time. The quarterfinal versus Belgium will be a rematch of the 2016 final, in which India defeated Belgium 2-1 to win the title in Lucknow under Harendra Singh.

India, one of the tournament favourites, struggled to control high balls and, as senior team vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh pointed out, weren’t as clinical with interceptions as they were stunned 4-5 by France before getting their act together and thrashing Canada 13-1 and Poland 8-2 to finish second in Pool B and advance to the knockout round.

While both India and Belgium implement zonal defence, reading and intercepting passes will be critical in defeating the opposition’s defenders.

With players like Uttam Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Sudeep Chirmako, and Maninder Singh, India has a fierce attacking line-up. Few teams in the world are as excellent at counterattacking as India. India’s counterattacks were successful in all three group stage matches.

However, India’s patience will be put to the test against Belgium, as the Belgians will sit back and maintain their defensive framework, leaving the Indians with very little space to work with. It’s something the juniors will have to learn to do, to control their natural want to attack and to calmly wait for an opportunity to score.

“Patience doesn’t come naturally to young boys. Kids of that age want things to happen. Trying to stay patient, move the ball around and be disciplined is something we try to instill in them… But it’s a fine line, between disrupting the flow that is. When you see Belgium play, you see the patience because it has been ingrained in them while growing up,” said Graham Reid on Tuesday while taking about the difference between the senior and the junior squad.

The plethora of penalty corner possibilities in vice-captain Sanjay Kumar, Hundal, Shardanand Tiwari, and Abhishek Lakra, all of whom have scored in the tournament so far, adding to India’s strength.

Sanjay had been particularly dangerous from set pieces, scoring hat-tricks in back-to-back games against France and Canada, while Hundal scored three goals against Poland. With Indian skipper’s extensive of the participation in India’s historic bronze medal-winning effort at the Tokyo Olympics- midfield is in safe hands.

The backline, on the other hand, is a threat, and players like Sanjay, Tiwari, Lakra, and Yashdeep Siwach will have to be alert to keep the Belgians at rest. Another point which could be a threat to Indian colts- the left side of their defence. Nearly all of France’s attacks were a consequence of a mistake or a gap on India’s left. Canada and Poland, too, tried to exploit this but lacked the quality and the numbers up front.

Whereas A lot of Belgium’s threatening moves have originated from their right, with winger Louis de Backer routinely running past defences. In this regard, they are a classic European team, preferring to keep possession of the ball before moving it fast and attacking from the right flank.

As a result, a compromise between Belgium’s right and India’s right to be reached in order to eliminate this threat.

Belgium have never won the Junior World Cup and pressure would be high on them to replicate the success of their senior team, which is the reigning Olympic as well world champions. While the reigning champions will compete with vigour, playing at home might be an added advantage in today’s encounter.

In the other quarterfinals of the day, Germany will play Spain, Netherlands will take on Argentina and France will square off against Malaysia. Watch live on Star Sports Network.

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