Commonwealth Games: India need to be wary of South Africa in the semis; Australia as usual look strong

The Indian men’s hockey team achieved their main goal of the league stage by topping it to avoid the six-time champions Australia in the semi-final. India will meet South Africa, while England go up against Australia, South Africa can be unpredictable. They may not score many but their defence can be frustrating for their rivals. They have had a decent outing beating New Zealand and drawing with Pakistan, who failed to make the semi-finals. Their other win was over Scotland. Australia topped the other pool with a 7-0 win over Pakistan. The Australians look ready for a seventh gold on the trot and India, if they reach the final by beating South Africa, will have their task cut out. Interestingly, Australia scored 29 goals in the league stage while and India scored 27 goals. India, which failed to find a place on the podium four years ago, will hope to make amends this time. A win against South Africa on Saturday will give India a chance to end Australia’s streak in men’s hockey, where they have won each time the competition has been staged at the Commonwealth Games since 1998 in Kuala Lumpur. Interestingly the Indian men have medalled only twice in six Commonwealth editions, and both have been silver. On three other occasions when they have lost the semi-finals, they also failed in the bronze medal play-off. In 2018, they lost the bronze medal play-off to England. India, if they need to get past South Africa will have to guard against the kind of mistakes they made against England, when they lead 4-1 before allowing the hosts not only to catch up but struggled to avoid losing the match, which would surely have meant a second position in the league and clash against the Australians.

The Indian men would not have expected at all to play South Africa in the Semi finals of Men’s Hockey #CWG2022. Fairly big upset for South Africa to beat New Zealand 4-3 in a very close final pool encounter to seal a SF spot & put the Kiwis out.

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) August 5, 2022

On Thursday the Indian men beat Wales 4-1 and then hoped that England would not be able overtake their goal difference of 22. England needed a margin of 15 against Canada to go past India on goal difference. The Indians must have been relieved to see that England managed only a nine-goal difference with a 11-2 win over Canada in the other Group match. India, who like England maintained an unbeaten record in the league stage, finished with three wins and a draw against England, who also had three wins. India topped the pool on the basis of their better goal difference. India scored 27 goals and conceded five for a goal difference of 22, while England scored 25 but gave away eight for a difference of 17. For India, the man in form is the drag flick specialist Harmanpreet Singh, who struck a hat-trick – two goals off penalty corners and one off a stroke, against Wales, a team that has at times proven tricky for India. So it was a good win. Also in form have been Mandeep Singh, Gurjant and Manpreet Singh. Indians need to be careful not to get into a situation they got into against England, when they were reduced to 10 men and then nine. That allowed England to claw back from 1-4 to 4-4 and in the final few minutes Indians were tense and were lucky to get away with a draw. Greater accuracy and awareness of where the opposition has packed its defence will also be needed. On the defence, giving away penalty corners is always dangerous these days. Meanwhile, the Indian women who finished second in their group will have a tough time on their hands with their semi-final clash being against Australia. That semi-final will be late on Friday, when it will be early hours of Saturday in India. Click here for our complete coverage of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Read all the  Latest News****,  Trending News****,  Cricket News****,  Bollywood News****,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook****,  Twitter and  Instagram****.