Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014: Day 3 Preview

Hockey World Cup

Day 3 promises plenty of goals and exciting hockey for fans as crucial matches get underway.

Day 3 of the tournament will see three games being played in Group A of Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 at Kyocera stadium in Netherlands, starting with the game between Australia and Spain.

Australia vs Spain

Defending champions Australia who thrashed Malaysia 4-0 in their opening game will be looking to carry their good form into the second game, when they meet Spain in order to strengthen their position as leaders of Group A.

Rich with experience in every department of the game, Australia will have an easy task at hand against Spain who managed a 1-1 score against England.

Backed by strong performances of Glenn Turner and Jamie Dwyer, Australia is expected to sail past Spain with a healthy goal difference.

Spain on the other hand will try to outsmart Australia after failing to impress in their opening game.

A lot will depend on Santi Frexia and David Alegre who showed promise against England. They will have to find a way to penetrate the Australian defence early in the game in order to score or win penalty corners.

Another concern for Spain is the number of shots on goal.Spain had just one shot on goal in the opening game and will certainly lose if this continues against Australia.

Second game of the day will see India take on England as both teams will look to kick-start their campaign after disappointing results in their respective opening games.

England vs India

England are one of the favorites to qualify for the semi-finals and would be looking set things right after missing out against Spain. England who had a strong first half performance in the opening game, will be looking to beat India who were once again done in by a last minute Belgian goal.

India’s lacklustre performance against Belgium has got the team management thinking.

India’s over reliance on Sardara Singh was visible against Belgium as they exploited the same to keep India under pressure for the whole 70 minutes.

Indian forward line will have to play better if India has to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the tournament.

Saved by Sreejesh’s brilliant goalkeeping for most parts of the game, Indian team will once again be looking up to him in the game against England.

For England, missing out chances proved costly against Spain and they world not like to repeat the same mistakes against India.

Barry Middleton, Adam Dixon and Ashley Jackson will have to put India under enormous pressure and go past the wall of P R Sreejesh. England will create lots of chances against India as they did against England, but this time they have to make sure that those chances are counted and desired results are obtained.

India have not beaten England in the last world cup meetings. It will be interesting to see if India can break that jinx.

The final game of the day will see World No.13 Malaysia take on World No. 5 Belgium.

Belgium vs Malaysia

Belgium who got three points against India with a last minute goal, will be hoping for a repeat performance against Malaysia .

Beligum did all the right things against India and were only kept at bay by the heroics of P R Sreejesh. If not for Sreejesh, Belgium would have scored at least three goals in the first half .

Belgium will opt for an aggressive strategy against the asian nation.

Malaysia who were hurt by injuries just before the start of the World Cup will once again find it difficult to face Belgium who are a great attacking unit.

Malaysia did manage to protect the goal in the first half of the match against Australia, but ran out of steam in the second half and gave 4 goals.

Only way for Malaysia to get some result of the match is through counter attack and hope that Kumar Subramaniam continues his good form.

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Edited by Staff Editor