World Cup Hockey: Belgium steals opener from India 3-2

The Hague: India conceded a last minute goal to lose 2-3 to Belgium in their opening match of the FIH Hockey World Cup at the Kyocera Stadium here Saturday. Belgium had the better of the first half but India’s goalkeeper Sreejesh made a number of saves to keep the game scoreless in the early going. Belgium dominated possession as India chose to sit deep and wait for opportunities to count-attack. However, whenever India did get the ball, ambitious passing and poor control more often than not handed the ball right back to their opponents. [caption id=“attachment_1551513” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India went down fighting to Belgium. Reuters[/caption] Just when it looked like India would get to halftime with honours even, Belgium scored through Florent Van Aubel. Trailing 0-1, it was a different India who came out after the break and they took the lead against the run of play with two goals in the space of six minutes through Mandeep Singh (44th) and Akashdeep Singh (50th). Both goals came on break-aways as India slowly began to assert themselves on the match. Belgium dug deep and made it 2-2 through Simon Gougnard from a penalty corner in the 55th minute, their fifth of the game. After India sent their only penalty corner soaring of the goal with two minutes left, Belgium stole the match in the 70th minute through a field goal from John Dohmen. The ball was crashed into the D and an Indian stick deflected the ball, causing chaos. It eventually fell to John-John Dohmen, who was able to dab the ball under the on-rushing Sreejesh and set off wild celebrations among the Belgian players. With inputs from IANS