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It will be a showdown of the underdogs in the 2nd crossover match at the Hockey World Cup 2018 -- the winner of which will lock horns with the mighty Australians.
While China are the World Cup debutants, France are the lowest-ranked team in the edition. Yet, the conclusion of the Pool stages saw experienced and higher-ranked teams like Malaysia (FIH Rank 12), South Africa (FIH Rank 15), Ireland (FIH Rank 10), and Spain (FIH Rank 8) being eliminated while China (FIH Rank 17) and Les Blues (FIH Rank 20) still remained in contention.
However, one can not take anything away from the performance of these two teams.
France faced defeat in their first World Cup match against New Zealand. Timothee Clement's goal helped them to a 1-1 draw against the Red Sticks. They were on the brink of elimination as they had to face Argentina (FIH Rank 2) in their final Pool stage match.
Who would have imagined that they would go on to defeat Los Leones? Well, that is exactly what happened but it did not transpire as a fluke. It was sheer hard work and determination on the part of the French players.
Captain Victor Charlet really instilled the belief in his boys that they can achieve this result. France defeated Argentina 5-3. Ultimately, Les Blues ended on the 2nd spot in Pool A with 4 points and a goal difference of +1.
China had a dream debut match in the World Cup as they managed a 2-2 draw against a strong English side. Even their 2nd encounter -- against Ireland -- ended in a 1-1 stalemate. However, Kim Sang-Ryul's boys were no match for Australia in the 3rd match. The Kookaburras smashed 11 goals against them and China had none to offer in return. This was the biggest win by a team at the 2018 World Cup so far.
Even though they ended the Pool stage on such a low, they qualified for the crossover match as they finished at the 3rd position in Pool B, ahead of Ireland who had only 1 point.
The Du Chen-led side will somehow need to forget their past result against Australia and only take out the positives from the group stage.
Here is all you need to know about the upcoming match between France and China:
Event: Men's Hockey World Cup 2018
Venue: Bhubaneswar, India
Date: 10 December 2018
Time: 7:00 pm Indian Standard Time (IST)
Telecast
India: Star Sports, Star Sports HD
UK: BT Sport
Australia: Fox Sports
Spain: Eurosport
New Zealand: Sky Sports (NZ)
Argentina: ESPN
South Africa: SuperSport
Live Streaming: Hotstar, FIH Official Youtube Channel
Live Updates: Sportskeeda
Prediction
The Chinese have emerged as the winners 2 out of the 3 times the two teams have clashed since 2013. However, France would be having the psychological advantage in the upcoming encounter as they are coming into the match after pulling off a massive upset against Argentina while China will still be recovering from the 0-11 loss against Australia.
Score Prediction: France 3 - 1 China
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