HWL Final PREVIEW: Confident India take on Belgium in semis
BUOYED BY THE TRIUMPH over Britain for the first time in 35 years, India will aim to carry the momentum from their previous outing and deliver their best when they take on a well prepared Belgium in the semi-finals of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final in Raipur on Saturday.
After remaining winless and finishing at fourth spot in the Pool stages of the eight-nation tournament, hosts India came up with a stupendous show to beat Britain 2-1 in the quarter-finals on Thursday at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel International Stadium.
On Thursday, Britain created far more chances than the hosts. They had six penalty corner opportunities, with only one paying off, compared to India's one. But the home side did what was necessary on the day.
After a poor run in the Pool stages, India chief coach Roelant Oltmans must be pleased with the performance of his boys against Britain.
The 2014 Asian Games champions will again rely on skipper Sardar Singh to take the initiative against a top side in all the departments of the game.
What was inspiring for the hosts in this tournament is the performance of its midfield led by skipper Sardar.
In the three Pool matches, defence has been India’s weak area and was exposed quite often, but against Britain, the backline managed to give their all not to concede in the later part of the crucial match.
Indian forwards Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, S.V. Sunil and Talwinder Singh, who are highly rated forwards, had disappointed utterly in the previous three games. But on Thursday, they exhibited an improved show. However, they need further development against Belgium.
The defenders duo of V.R. Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh will shoulder the responsibility of penalty corners conversions. Other defenders in focus will be Birendra Lakra, Manpreet Singh and Jasjit Singh Kular, while linkmen Dharamvir Singh and Danish Mujtaba will have to improve their coordination.
Goal scorers for the hosts against Britain, Raghunath and Talwinder will be the one to watch out for again on Saturday.
On the other hand, Belgium come into the match after a dominating show against Argentina where they won 2-1.
In the last match between the both sides, the European side routed India 4-0 in the semi-finals of the HWL Semi-Finals held in July.
In this tournament, Belgium looked more consistent than their opponents and India will have to put in a similar show they did in the quarter-finals to overcome and make it to the final.
Belgium have a very experienced team in every department of the game. Led my talismanic midfielder, John-John Dohmen (312 caps), the Shane McLeod-coached side will look to find goals from Tom Boon (197 caps), Jerome Truyens (301 caps), Tanguy Cosyns (76 caps) and Florent van Aubel (139 caps).
Sebastian Dockier (98 caps) and Cedric Charlier (212 caps), Thomas Briels (240 caps) and Felix Denayer (222 caps) will join Dohmen in the midfield.
Arthur van Doren, Gauthier Boccard and Loick Lupayert (128 caps) will form the Belgian defence.
