Hockey World Cup 2018: India hope to break the Dutch jinx

One of the greatest match-ups in the modern era of tennis is between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Nadal, a beast with the mask of a human with a bludgeoning baseline game, found a Serbian warrior armed with the same weapons within a couple of years of turning pro. Their on-court battles since have been an exhibition of power, precision, resistance and resolve.

The India-Netherlands World Cup quarterfinal here on Thursday evening in a packed to the rafters Kalinga Stadium will throw up a hockey equivalent of the classic tennis rivalry.

Two teams that centre their game around pace, attacks, counter-attacks and revel in free-flowing hockey will bid to pull the brakes on the other for a place in the semifinals.

Under Harendra Singh, the Indians have returned to their traditional style of hockey, where moving forward with the ball takes precedence over horizontal passes. It’s something Netherlands have been a master of for years.

Both sides like to dictate the pace of the games, and the Indian head coach insisted it will be no different for the hosts on Thursday, notwithstanding the toe-to-toe combat the Dutch will present.

“If we try and do something out of the box, it won’t be a wise idea,” Harendra said here on Wednesday.

“Yes, there can be minor adjustments to the gameplan but we won’t try and do anything different. Indian hockey is what Holland hockey or Australian hockey is: they like to give space, play attacking hockey.

“The players have to take only three decisions tomorrow (Thursday): either goals, shots on goals, or penalty corner (PC). Everything else is immaterial,” he added.

Except, it’s not.

Similar styles aside, both teams also have grey areas coming into the game.

For all the talk of returning to attacking hockey, India haven’t quite made the stick talk in front of the net, missing field goal chances galore in their three league matches so far, two of them against relatively weaker teams.

Simranjeet Singh, who has scored three goals in the tournament, has been the sharpest among all the strikers in the training sessions that India have had leading up to the match, while the likes of Mandeep Singh and Dilpreet Singh have looked uncertain when Harendra has asked them to deflect the ball while being stationed right in front of the goal.

Akashdeep Singh might have to return to playing the linkman, a role he played so effectively against South Africa in the opener, after being off colour up front in the following two matches.

Netherlands, meanwhile, have had issues with their set-piece play, converting just four of the 25 PCs they earned in the three pool and one cross-over match.

However, they make it up with some quality forwards and midfielders in Jeroen Hertzberger, Robbert Kemperman and Thierry Brinkman sprinkled with exciting young talents like Thijs van Dam.

One factor that could prove to be the game-changer, though, is that the Netherlands do not suffer from the big-match syndrome, a virus that has crept into the Indian hockey system over the last few years.

The Indians have flattered to deceive in major tournaments this year, faltering to disappoint when the key medal match came calling at the Commonwealth Games as well as the Asian Games.

The World Cup is a stage bigger than the two, and the pressure that much greater, given that the country hasn’t made it to the semifinal stage of a World Cup since winning its lone gold in 1975.

This bunch of young men has a chance to reverse the trend -- in front of 15,000 home fans, against Netherlands, at their game, at their pace.

Harendra doesn’t believe in the concept of a ‘big’ match – “every match is a big one”, he says – but if there ever was one for Indian hockey in the recent past, this is it.

DID YOU KNOW?

• India have never managed to beat Netherlands in the World Cup. In the six earlier meetings between the two sides, the Dutch have defeated the Indians five times while one has ended in a draw
   
• The last time India and Netherlands faced each in the Champions Trophy earlier this year, the match had ended in a 1-1 draw

BLOW FOR DUTCH

Netherlands suffered a blow before the crucial India game, with defender Sander de Wijn being ruled out of the tournament after suffering an injury in their cross-over game against Canada on Tuesday. Joep de Mol has been announced as the replacement for the injured de Wijn.