3 Things to look forward to in the India vs Netherlands quarter final
India are going to play Netherlands in a quarter final match of the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. India qualified for the quarter finals automatically by topping their group whereas Netherlands beat Canada 5-0 in a crossover match to qualify for the same.
India have not won a World Cup since 1975 and would desperately try to win it on home soil this time. On the other hand, 3 times champions Netherlands last won the World Cup in 1998 and would hope to end the 20 year old drought.
However, it is not going to be easy for either team and we are likely to experience a keenly contested match. Netherlands would have a slight edge over India since they have a superior squad overall and more match experience. However, a young Indian team might also prove to be equal to the task as they are not going to let the match go easily.
We would now take a look at the 3 things one should look forward to in tomorrow’s match:
#1 It should be a high-scoring match
Both the teams have scored a lot of goals in the tournament so far and therefore, tomorrow’s match should be a high-scoring affair. Netherlands have scored 18 goals in 4 matches, more than any other team in this competition. India are not far behind either as they have scored 12 goals in 3 matches. Both the teams have exciting attacking players at their disposal and therefore, it should not be difficult for either of them to find the net.
Netherlands have fine attacking players like Thierry Brinkman, Kemperman and Jeroen Hertzbereger. Hertzberger scored a hattrick against Malaysia and Brinkman found the net against Canada. Both of them would fancy their chances against India too and are likely to make life difficult for the Indian defenders.
India, on the other hand, have good players like Lalit Upadhyay and Manpreet Singh and would depend upon Akashdeep Singh to play those crucial one-touch passes and deflections. Upadhyay has already scored 3 goals in the tournament and might increase the tally against Netherlands.