Junior Hockey World Cup: We trained for such situations, says Uttam Singh on win over Netherlands

India twice came from behind to beat Netherlands 4-3 in the quarter-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup in Malaysia. The men’s team trailed 0-2 and 2-3 before sealing the tie 4-3 in dramatic manner.

The Netherlands led India by 2-0 at half time with Timo Boers scoring from a penalty corner in the fifth minute. Pepijn van der Heijden doubled that advantage in the 16th minute despite India’s solid defending.

India reduced the deficit in the third quarter with a goal from Aditya Lalage (34’) assisted by Araijeet Singh Hundal. Two minutes later, Araijeet scored the equaliser for India with a penalty stroke.

Netherlands once again pulled through with a penalty corner as Olivier Hortensius (44’) scored late in the third quarter.

With less than ten minutes remaining, the Indians raised the tempo and it proved fruitful as Sourabh Anand Kushwaha (52’) found the back of the net off a rebound following a brilliant attack to get the score reading 3-3.

India found the winner in the 57th minute, just three minutes before full time, with skipper Uttam Singh converting from a penalty corner.

Speaking about the late goal, Uttam said in a media interaction, “It was a set piece, we work on them in practice. There were two minutes left in the match and was the right time to use it. We got a call from the coach to go for it and we did it as trained. We’ve worked hard on penalty corners and this was the right time to use the variation and to utilise it.”

On a slow start, the skipper said, “Our attacks were few at that time. We were slightly defensive and trailed 0-2. We thought we needed to go all out to win. Before a game, we discuss such scenarios and how we need to stay united to make a comeback. We talked about it during the game. We knew what to do and knew that we can make a comeback. And we did.”

Coach CR Kumar said they knew Netherlands would set up accordingly - keep the pressure in the first two quarters and then fade out in the second half.

“We know the Europeans always try to dominate in the first two quarters with high pressure in the first half and then fade away in the third and fourth quarter. We have been watching all the opponents in the tournament. We took a chance. We tried to defend in the first two quarters, keep it safe and then go all out in the third and fourth quarter to score. We bounced back, made more circle entries and used the set plays well.”

India will take on Germany next, on 14 December, in a re-match of the semi-finals of the Sultan of Johor Cup. Then, Germany had thumped India 6-3. CR Kumar asserted that this is a new day and a new tournament.

“We have played more against Germany compared to other European sides. Now we have the experience and the ideas behind it. All these tournaments that we played are different than the World Cup. So we have to execute the plans systematically, then the result is ours. We’re telling the players exactly what is the plan and try to stick with it to get the result,” he added.