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Day 5 of Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 saw Indian team finally get their first points on the board as they held Spain to a 1-1 draw. Defending champions Australia went onto beat Belgium to avenge last year’s Hockey World League defeat.
Malaysia V England
England kept their semi-final hopes alive after beating Malaysia 2-0 with Mark Gleghorne and Ashley Jackson scoring in either half of the match. The game would have ended with a bigger margin if not for Malaysian goalkeeper Kumar Subramaniam
It took England just four minutes to open the scoring, when ball played in the midfield from Ashley Jackson found Barry Middleton and his pass found unmarked Mark Gleghorne who wasted no time, in putting the ball behind the Malaysian net with reverse stick shot. England enjoyed most of the possession as they went on creating chances to score.
Malaysian keeper Kumar Subramaniam had a great game under the bar has he kept on saving Malaysian goal. Kumar made a great diving save in the 22nd minute of play to deny Tom Carson, and then again in the 27th minute to keep Ashley Jackson from scoring a goal.
England took 10 minutes in the second half to score again, as deflection by Barry Middleton from Ashley Jackson’s pass was inches away from the goal. Ten minutes later, England again got an opportunity with Kumar once again making a brilliant save to deny Brogdon. England then received a penalty corner in the 67th minute of play and Ashley Jackson who had a great game despite having a shoulder injury, scored from the penalty corner to give England a 2-0 victory. Victory keeps England in the hunt for a semi-final spot.
Australia V Belgium
The most anticipated game of the day lived up to its hype as defending champions Australia defeated the young Belgian team 3-1 to stay on top of Group A.
It was the Red Lions who had the first chance of scoring when Simon Gougnard’s shot flew pass Australian keeper Andrew Charter. Australia did not take long to score, as a penalty corner by Chris Ciriello went past Belgium keeper to give the favourites a 1-0 lead. Within four minutes of the goal, Glen Turner played a beautiful pass to Jacob Whetton, who then slotted the ball in Belgium goal to give Australia 2-0 lead.
First half of the game ended with the same scoreline, before Eddie Ockenden took just one minute after the break to increase the score line to 3-0. Ockenden started from the right flank before cutting it in, to hit a powerful reverse stick shot for which Belgium keeper Vanash had no answers.
Australia continued to attack with Jacob Whetton missing the goal in a narrow fashion. Belgium strikers had a bad day in front of the Australian goal. Tom Boon missed a chance in front of the circle when a ball was fired in, and the striker failed to get a touch on it. Sebastien Dockier scored from a penalty corner to cut the Australian lead.
The game ended with the same scoreline. Despite the result, both Australia and Belgium continue to lead Group A.
India V Spain
India once again disappointed its fans when they played a 1-1 draw against Spain in the last game of the day. The scoreline gave India its first points, but the performance still left a lot to be desired.
Spain started the proceedings after winning a penalty corner with just 7 minutes of play. Spaniards were stopped once again by in-form goalkeeper Sreejesh. Spain continued to attack and once again,Sreejesh was up to the task before Raghunath’s rush helped India save another penalty corner.
India won a penalty corner when Indian striker Mandeep Singh was pushed by Spanish defender Enrique. Rupinder Pal Singh kept calm and hit the board to give India a 1-0 lead. It took just six minutes for Spain to equalise, when Roc Oliva fired a shot from the top of the circle after being fed a brilliant pass by Captain Santi Freixa.
India won three penalty corners in the match but could not convert any of those. Indian strikers were once again guilty of keeping the ball for long and not playing quick passes. The Indian team management did not help the players with proper substitutions.
The result keeps India in 5th place in Group A . India will take on Malaysia in their next game.
