The men in blue will look to keep their winning run going as they face Netherlands in a tricky encounter in the group stage of the men’s hockey tournament at Rio 2016. While a draw in this would confirm qualification for India, they would be looking for a win to keep the streak going. The Netherlands will provide a firm challenge for the Indians and anything but a win against them would put India in a tricky predicament in which they might finish third and face a potentially stronger opponent in the next round of the tournament.
India would in all probability go for a win against the Dutch following a narrow 2-1 win against Argentina. They will certainly look to keep their nerves in check and look to close out their games better, especially in the fourth quarter of the game where India has conceded most of its goals in the tournament. They will also need to improve on the percentage of goals from open play despite scoring their first field goal against Argentina.
The Dutch are likely to pose a strong threat to the Indian goal and goalkeeper Sreejesh will, in all likeliness be the busier of the goalkeepers. India need to make sure they keep their defense tight and close out the quarters efficiently if they are to get anything out of this game.The Dutch who are currently ranked second in the world would likely want to avoid facing the likes of world champions Australia in the next and hence would want to try to finish as high as possible in the group.
Key Players
Following yet another impressive day at the office, Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh will need to keep their heads in the game and make sure India take advantage of those precious penalty corner against the Dutch which continues to be the most likely source of goals for our team. Goalkeeper and captain Sreejesh remains a key cog in the wheel following a string of impressive saves in the last match to keep Argentina down to just one goal against our team.
The Netherlands have the luxury of calling upon the services of the reigning FIH World Player of the Year in Robert Van Der Horst who will hope to lead his side to a win against the Indians. Besides their talisman, the likes of Mink Van Der Weerden and Jeroen Hertzberger will be potent and most likely source goals for the touch. But India would need to keep their star captain Van Der Horst quiet and make sure he does not get the chance to build up play from the back as often as he wants.
Match Details: Rio 2016 Men’s Hockey Tournament Group B Netherlands vs India
TV Channel : Star Sports Network & Hotstar
Match Date : 11 August 2016
Match Time : 6:30 PM IST/10 AM Brazilian Time
Match Venue : Olympic Hockey Centre, Rio De Janeiro
Squads
India
P. R. Sreejesh (C), Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, V. R., Raghunath, Manpreet Singh, Sardara Singh, S. K. Uthappa, Danish Mujtaba, Devinder Walmiki, S. V. Sunil (VC), Akashdeep Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah
Netherlands
Seve van Ass, Sander Baart, Billy Bakker, Jorrit Croon, Jeroen Hertzberger, Rogier Hofman, Robert van der Horst (C), Robbert Kemperman, Mirco Pruyser, Glenn Schuurman, Jaap Stockmann (GK), Hidde Turkstra, Valentin Verga, Bob de Voogd, Mink van der Weerden, Sander de Wijn
Prediction
India will narrowly edge out this game 3-2 in a high scoring encounter against the Dutch and guarantee qualification from the group.
