India face Spanish threat

The Indian hockey team will have their task cut out when they take on Spain in the quarterfinals of the Hockey Junior World Cup here at the Major Dhyanchand stadium on Thursday.

After entertaining everyone with some flawless hockey in their pool game against England, the Indians had to struggle past South Africa in the previous tie, giving them a jolt before they got into the business end of the tournament.

Even though the Harjeet Singh-led side has managed to maintain an all-win record so far, their performance against South Africa took everyone by surprise. “I was not surprised with South Africa’s performance but I was surprised with our performance because we didn’t play to our potential,” the Indian head coach Harendra Singh said.

On the face of it, the Indians hold the upper hand against Spain. And their two wins over the Spaniards at the four-nation tournament in Valencia just before the World Cup could act as a morale-booster.

On the other hand, the Spanish side is unperturbed by the occasion and believes that the side is under no pressure going into the last-eight tie. “For me India is the best and the favourite team in the tournament, so I see this as a very good opportunity to play against the best. We don’t have pressure. I think the pressure will be on Indian players,” said Roger Pallarols, the head coach of the Spanish side.

In the three games so far, the Indians have shown their quality and if they are to play to the best of their ability, the quarterfinal could be in their bags. But what threatens to spoil the party is the ease with which India can undo all the good work in the blink of an eye.

While the Indian defence and the midfield have done well so far, it’s the forward line that has come under fire.

Mandeep Singh has scored in two of the three games, but his casual approach and constant showboating meant that the team couldn’t kill a game when the opportunity came their way. On Thursday, Mandeep will have to rein in his ways if the Indians are to see off a tough Spanish challenge.

Meanwhile in the other quarterfinals of the day, Belgium will take on Argentina, while defending champions Germany will face England and Australia will lock horns with the reigning European U-21 champions the Netherlands.

Today’s action: Belgium vs Argentina (11:15 am), Germany vs England (1:30 pm), Australia vs Netherlands (3:45 pm), India vs Spain (6:00 pm). (All matches live on Star Network).

Results of the classification matches held on Wednesday: 13/16 place: Japan: 1 (Koji Yamasaki 41st) bt Egypt: 0; Korea: 2 (Joohan Park 21st, Seyong Oh 26th ) bt Canada: 1 (Brandon Pereira 28th) 9/12 place: South Africa: 4 (Matthew D Sousa 21st, Courtney Halle 32nd, Nqobile Ntuli 68th, Ryan Crowe 56th, ) bt Austria: 2 (Franz Lindengrun 13th, Leon Thornblom 60th); New Zealand: 3 (Sam Lane 60th, Robbie Capizzi 56th, Oliver Logan 6th) bt Malaysia: 1 (Firdaus Omar 28th).