Hockey World Cup 2023: India produce another brilliant defensive effort but goal-scoring is a worry

As the Indian men’s hockey team moves base from Rourkela to Bhubaneshwar, the Sundargarh district residents would be a tad disappointed. In the two games that India played in the brand-new Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela, the hockey was of high quality and the home support was supreme. In their first Pool D game, India blanked Spain 2-0 in front of the 20,000-plus crowd on the back of some fast and thrilling hockey. On Sunday, India played out a nail-biting goalless draw against England in the stadium packed to the rafters once again. There were no goals to show but it was 60 minutes of lung-bursting and edge-of-the-seat hockey that made for a fantastic spectacle.

Proof - Hockey Hai Dil Mera! 💙#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HWC2023 #StarsBecomeLegends #HockeyWorldCup #HockeyHaiDilMera @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/eKlJALu2S8

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Yet, despite all the attacking, it was the defending from both sides that tactically stood out from the game. Especially from India’s perspective, two back-to-back clean sheets are highly reassuring. After all, India have had the worst defending record among top teams in the FIH Pro League in the last two seasons. Dogged defending Two of the best sides in the Pool, the result of Sunday’s game was to have a big say on the final shape the group takes, and England wanted to take an early lead. Quick off the blocks, the visiting team earned five penalty corners (PC) on a stretch in the first quarter but all that resulted in no goal. The star of the Indian defence in the brief period was Manpreet Singh who was brilliant as the rusher, reading the angles well and blocking most of the shots. Amit Rohitdas and Harmanpreet Singh were equally good on the subsequent PCs. In the last minute of the game, defender Surender Kumar saved a PC on the line to deny England once again. In total, England had eight PCs in the game but the Indian defence proved to be unbreachable. “We have been leaking goals since the Tokyo Olympics but now we have got back-to-back clean sheets, that is the positive from this match,” India coach Graham Reid said after the match. “We conceded too many penalty corners but at the same time we defended them very well. The defending wasn’t just good on the PCs, even in the open play the Indian players showed some great game awareness to thwart any danger that England posed. Nilam Sanjeep Xess producing a stunning last-minute clearance with a dive as Liam Ansell looked set for a goal in the 24th minute was one of the examples of how good the home team was on the night in front of their own goal.

This incredible save by @olliepayne0 vs India is the @HeroMotoCorp save of the day from the third day of play at the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023. #HWC2023@englandhockey#HockeyEquals #HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/rgRcNp8AHd

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) January 15, 2023

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Who will score for India? They were equally good going forward. India made 31 circle penetrations as compared to England’s 23. Despite having 47% of ball possession, Harmanpreet Singh-led side produced nine shots on goals. However, the concern is that they didn’t convert any of the chances. To add to the headache, Hardik Singh, who has been India’s biggest attacking threat so far, had to be taken off the field in the final quarter due to what looked like a hamstring issue. “It looked pretty bad when he came off but I have gotten an update and it is not as bad as we originally thought. We will have an update on that, we will see,” Reid said about Hardik after the game. Mandeep Singh had a good game and while his skills with the stick posed a lot of danger he wasn’t able to convert a glorious opportunity in the 41st minute as he missed the target. Other forwards, Akashdeep Singh and Lalit Upadhyay had an ordinary game. India also failed to convert any of their four PCs and a goal from ace drag-flicker Harmanpreet’s stick is still missing. If Hardik, who scored in the Spain game, doesn’t return against Wales, India can only find themselves in more trouble. They now sit second in Pool D behind England despite having four points each. England lead because of a superior goal difference as they had beaten Wales 5-0 in their first game.

Pool D has begun to take shape. This is where the teams stand at the end of Day 3.#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HWC2023 #StarsBecomeLegends #ENGvsIND @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @EnglandHockey @rfe_hockey @HockeyWales pic.twitter.com/TV8aotx5J0

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 15, 2023

A direct qualification to the quarter-finals is guaranteed for Pool winners and for that India will need to beat Wales with a big goal margin, however, to do so the forwards will have to rediscover their goalscoring touch on Wednesday in Bhubaneshwar. But India may still rue not scoring against England if Paul Revington-coached side makes easy work of Spain in their last Pool game. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News,  India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.