India give The Netherlands a run for their money but lose 1-2; to face Canada today for place in quarter-finals
It was an exciting encounter, a close game, a pulsating finish. However, the result was an eventual 1-2 loss for India against The Netherlands.
After a dead first quarter where both teams were trying to control their nerves, Thursday's third encounter for India was crucial in keeping hopes alive to finish in top two positions of the Pool B in an attempt to avoid playing the top two teams from the other group.
India's loss, the second in four games so far, to The Netherlands has come after some hard fought effort. And the hopes of qualifying for the Olympics quarterfinals now hinges on the last game against minnows Canada.
After playing the dull first two quarters, Holland picked up pace immediately in the third when Rogier Hofman's scored the first in the 32nd minute. Indians, too, picked up the speed and drag-flicker VR Raghunath cancelled out the Dutch advantage by sounding the board in the 38th minute off a penalty corner.
It was some combined effort of both Raghunath and Sardar Singh which saw India win penalty corner. Though, Dutch custodian padded away Rupinder Pal Singh's powerful drag flick, the way ball rose dangerously, India were awarded another one. And this time Raghunath made no mistake placing his flick to the left of Stockmann to draw India level.
After that, the battle was fought mostly in the mid field as both teams tried to keep possession of the ball. Unfortunately for India, two of the players SV Sunil and Raghunath earned yellow cards each to down India to nine men in the final quarter.
Raghunath, in particular, served most of the final quarter on the bench and that helped Dutch take advantage of the situation. Indian defence made several mistakes and conceded several penalty corners. But skipper PR Sreejesh stood like a rock to deny Holland any lead till the time Van Der Meerden managed to sneak in a powerful grounder through him.
India did try to bounce back in the last six minutes and also earned five consecutive penalty corners but it was Dutch custodian who denied any efforts to equalise. With less than three minutes left, Ramandeep Singh's strong hit too got lost in the goal melee. Holland defence held on to their nerves made sure that no mistake happens inside the box. The five penalty corners that India won during this time failed to make a difference to scoreline.
India replaced goalie Sreejesh in their desperate effort to put an extra field player. Raghunath re-entered the field with yellow jersey but failed to do the trick as India lost the game 1-2.
A point would have ensured India's passage to the next round but now will have to beat Canada on Friday to do so.
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