Such was the inevitability of the match-up that even India captain Manpreet Singh said after India’s training session on Tuesday: “We’ll play Holland mostly.”
Even before Netherlands’ cross-over game against Canada, a majority of the questions fired at their head coach Max Caldas were about the team’s possible clash against India in the quarterfinals.
Such was the inevitability of the match-up that even India captain Manpreet Singh said after India’s training session on Tuesday: “We’ll play Holland mostly.”
True to prediction, the Dutch defeated a hapless Canada 5-0 in the cross-over here on Tuesday to set up a mouth-watering quarterfinals clash with the hosts on Thursday.
The Canadians were not expected to alter the script, more so after getting a hiding from the Indians in the final quarter of their previous match.
The world No. 4 Netherlands didn’t quite play to their full potential, failing to convert any of their four penalty corners as well as a penalty stroke. They did show glimpses of the spark they can create with their pace and work managing about 38 circle entries.
The fifth-ranked India, though, will believe this Dutch team has enough chinks in its armour to exploit. And Netherlands don’t quite mind India having that feeling of the upper hand.
“In my opinion, we’re not the favourites,” Netherlands captain Billy Bakker said of the quarterfinals.
“We’re talking about our pressure. But the Indian team also has a lot of pressure, because they too need to perform in front of their home crowd. So, we’ll take that advantage,” he added.
Pak end sorry campaign
Pakistan ended their World Cup sojourn with a 5-0 defeat to Belgium in the first cross-over tie on Tuesday. It marked an end to a campaign in which they had little to take away, both on and off the field where reprimands to their players and coaches made more noise than their hockey.
STOPWATCH
Belgium 5 (Alexander Hendrickx 10, Thomas Briels 13, Cedric Charlier 27, Sebastien Dockier 35, Tom Boon 53) beat Pakistan o Netherlands 5 (Lars Balk 16, Robbert Kemperman 20, Thijs van Dam 40, 58, Thierry Brinkman 41) beat Canada 0
QF LINE-UP
Wednesday
4.45pm: Argentina vs England
7pm: Australia vs France
Thursday
4.45pm: Germany vs Belgium
7pm: India vs Netherlands
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