India’s semifinal woes at major tournaments continued as the host went down to Belgium by a solitary goal in the Hockey World League Finals here in a scrappy encounter on Saturday, a game where two Indian teams turned up on the pitch.
The second paid the price for the mistakes of the first.
Belgium will now take on Australia in the title clash on Sunday while India has a tough battle for bronze against the Dutch, having already lost to them 1-3 in the league stage.
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All of India’s old demons came back to haunt the team — holding the ball too long, erratic trapping and passing and failing to spot a teammate ahead.
A fifth-minute reverse shot by Cedric Charlier through goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh’s legs after being put through by Jerome Truyens was enough for Belgium to book its maiden final spot in a world-level FIH event.
For the first two quarters, it was an unplanned, unstructured Indian team that ran all over the place haphazardly with not a single decent shot at the goal. India got a lone penalty corner in the match, in the 10th minute, and it was cancelled on referral by the Belgians.
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Other than that, there was a lot of unfocused hard work by the host that produced little by way of results.
India’s famed midfield was nowhere in the picture. Birendra Lakra had an off-day, failing to even trap or control the ball, let alone creating openings. Sardar Singh pumped in the balls but was not effective. Manpreet Singh failed to break past the defence.
The attack was all but absent.
The defence barely held up but, barring that one error, managed to thwart the Red Lions, else the margin could have been much higher.
Strategic coach Roger van Gent kept yelling at the Indians to pass and move on but the players were in their own zone. Coach Roelant Oltmans alternately had a look of anguish and astonishment but there was little he could do.
Post-break, India came out a different team. There were a lot more attacks, there was a semblance of structure and the team tried to get into the striking circle a lot more. In fact, the third quarter was all about Indian domination while the fourth saw a desperate India throw everything it had at the opposition including taking out Sreejesh to add an extra-man upfront.
The misfiring strikers were unable to convert those chances into goals as Belgium stuck deep in its own half to defend the thin lead. Credit must also go to its defenders who managed to avoid conceding penalty corners.
A day before the game, India had skipped field practice to work on gameplan. On Saturday, there was little by way of execution.
In the play off for the 7-8 spot, Germany finally won a match in the tournament, hammering Canada 8-3.
The result (semifinal): Belgium 1 (Cedric Charlier) bt India 0. 7-8 playoff: Germany 8 (Christopher Ruhr 2, Moritz Fuerste, Niklas Wellen, Martin Haner, Florian Fuchs, Oliver Korn, Constantin Staib) bt Canada 3 (Gordon Johnston, Matthew Guest, Scott Tupper).