Distraught and disappointed, the teary-eyed Indian hockey team sat in disbelief at the Athletes Village on Sunday night, as they watched Olympic champions Germany pump in three goals in four minutes to steal a 3-2 win over New Zealand in their quarter-final.
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India were heavily dependent on the penalty corners as the team scored only 3 field goals out of 10 they managed from six games.
A physical game that stayed even for the first half of play turned to India’s favor in the third quarter when Akashdeep Singh scored on a penalty corner. There are always gaps.
“We just lost the focus (against New Zealand), and we got together yesterday and we talked about that, and the focus is back, hopefully, ” Netherlands coach Alyson Annan-Thate said.
After setting a team record for goals in an Olympic match against Japan, the Americans continued their high-quality play against India.
“I think this is where we lacked the most”.
Peillat put Argentina in front early from a penalty corner, and the scoreline remained the same into the fourth quarter, where Spain’s rising desperation finally paid off. “We had only one or two opportunities and a break from the corner, but we didn’t succeed”, said Oltmans. Simon Child (31st minute), Nick Wilson (37th), Hugo Inglis (52nd) scored for New Zealand, while on the other hand Florent Van Aubel (58th) was the only goal scorer for Belgium.
In a tepid first quarter, U.S. and India played out a slug fest in the midfield, both reliant on long balls for circle penetrations into the others territory. On Sunday, it seemed they were overawed by Belgium, giving them too much respect.
Belgium soon started dominating the possession and exerting their influence on the game, Sebastien Dockier drawing a superb save from Sreejesh in the 14th minute of the quarter.
Goalkeeper Sreejesh, with defenders Raghunath, Surender Kumar, Rupinder Pal, Harmanpreet and Kothajit, will be required to standby on constant vigil to parry the swift ball running, rotational and overlap skills of their opponents.
Canada equalised within seconds of India’s goal as Tupper’s flick went through the legs of Indian goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh.
Belgium was in the lead one minute later when Cedric Charlier crossed from the left and Dockier dived forward superbly to deflect the ball in.
He, however, was quick to admit that the mood in the Indian team camp was upbeat and the men are excited to be part of the quarter-final line-up. Goalie Jackie Briggs notched her first shoutout of the games against India after allowing a single goal in each of the team’s first three matches. The tactic worked, with team captain Moritz Fürste scoring two penalty corner drag-flicks to restore parity before Florian Fuchs netted a brilliant victor with just 1.4 seconds on the clock.
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“The game can change till the last moment in hockey, so it’s more important till the end how we concentrate and try to get a lead”.
