The Indian captains put on a superb display of attacking hockey in Friday’s FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup opener in a 2-0 win over underhanded Spain. Local hero Amit Rohidas was one of the scorers when he scored a 12th-minute corner to applause at the Birsa Munda Stadium in his international debut on Friday. (Read Also: 15 interesting facts about the Men’s Hockey World Cup with other things)
Hardik Singh scored a brilliant field goal in the 26th minute after a brilliant solo performance and India, chasing their first medal since 1975, have boosted their chances of reaching the Group D quarter-finals. Result – Line did not reflect the extent of Indian dominance, who could have won by a larger margin, but the sixth-biggest team in the world prevented their European opponents from playing two levels down.
India aquired five penalty corners and scored from the second one.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh also missed a penalty in the third quarter. Young goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak excelled off the bar and made some great saves, including corner kicks. Spain have always been a tough opponent for India. But it was the hosts who set the tone at the European Championships, prevailing in four professional league games last year and recording two wins and one loss.
The Indians were fast in attack and counterattack. Having won many balls from their rivals. Spain had few chances apart from missing three corners. Spain dominated the battle in midfield for the first few minutes with no scoring chance. India settled down well after measuring their opponents and began to attack towards the end of the first quarter.
Majority of the attacks started from the right flank, with Nilakanta Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Abhishek in the middle of the fight. India’s constant pressure bore fruit. Three corners in quick succession and headers in the 12th minute from Rohida’s second serve. Harmanpreet’s drag- flick deflected off the Spanish defender’s stick and the ball landed on Rohidas. This powerful shot brought the Spanish goalkeeper to the finish everything.
A minute later, India took another corner kick, but Harmanpreet missed the target. Just before the end of the first quarter, Abhishek circled several Spanish defenders. The attempt didn’t result in one Goal. Nilakanta also had a shot, but missed the goal. The second quarter was also almost identical to the first. As the action was mostly non-stop with the Indian half pushing at first strong for the equalizer.
Four minutes from the first break, Hardik drove his left foot into the channel and then steered a cross into the goal. He beat the Spanish goalkeeper and forced the defender to free him for India’s second goal.
Spain took their first penalty early but missed it. The third quarter yielded no goals but was filled with emotion as captain Harmanpreet Singh missed a penalty in the 32nd minute. The Spain goalkeeper felt saved after a video was posted about India.
Earlier in the day, England beat neighbours Wales 5-0 in another Group D game.
