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Ireland will lock horns with China in what will be the 14th match of the 2018 Hockey World Cup. This is going to be an extremely crucial match for both the Pool B teams as a win here will most likely be a ticket to the knockout stages.
The Green Machine, as the Irish hockey team are often called, displayed a great fighting spirit against the World Champions Australia. Ireland are making only their third appearance at the World Cup and gaffer Alexander Cox will be proud of how his boys performed against The Kookaburras. Even though Ireland lost the match 1-2, the team showed great resilience and in no way looked like a side which is ranked far below the Aussies.
Midfielder Shane O'Donoghue found the back of the net for Ireland. The Kookaburras were expected to steamroll past their opponents but such was not the case. Kirk Shimmins, forward Mitch Darling and defenders Conor Harte and Paul Gleghorne will be looking to make their experience count in the match against China.
Debutants China will be proud of their performance in their first ever Hockey World Cup match where they drew 2-2 against a much higher ranked English side. In fact, it was China who went ahead in the match with a brilliant solo goal from Guo Xiaoping before England scored 2 to go ahead.
Ultimately, it was the experience of defender Du Talake that made all the difference as he equalized for China in the 59th minute via a superbly finished Penalty Corner. Du also got the player of the match award for his exploits and drag flicking expertise.
Kim Sang-Ryul and his troops were expected to be the minnows in the match but they may just prove to be the surprise package in the entire tournament.
Things are bound to get interesting as both Ireland and China will give it no less than their 100 percent as they go up against each other.
Here is all you need to know about the upcoming match between Ireland and China:
Event: Men's Hockey World Cup 2018
Venue: Bhubaneswar, India
Date: 4 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
There will be fireworks galore as China go up against The Green Machine. Both the teams were mostly on the back foot in their first matches as they faced much higher ranked teams. Here, however, Ireland and China will look to step up the gas and go for glory.
While the Irish are a really promising bunch of players, China have that spark and rawness about them which may help them clinch the win.
Score Prediction: Ireland 2 - 3 China
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