Saturday, January 11, 2014

Basic errors-strewn India lose 1-3 to New Zealand

New Zealand stunned the boisterous crowd at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi to silence, carving out an emphatic 3-1 win over India to consign the hosts to their second straight defeat in the Hockey World League Final tournament.

India put up a forgettable display on Saturday, indulging in basic errors like trapping and hardly showing any concrete game plan to counter the Black Sticks.

Rupinder Pal Singh – who wore the captain’s armband in the wake of regular captain Sardar Singh being not in the starting eleven – was perhaps the biggest culprit of the day- making as many as three schoolboyish trapping errors and also muffing up a PC opportunity.

India did not really know how to go about their business – be it the defence, midfield or the forwardline – all the departments failed miserably putting Terry Walsh under severe pressure to justify his role as the team’s head coach.

New Zealand struck early in the first half through
Shea Mcalesese before Jenness scored an early second half and also netted the third goal. Even Mandeep Singh’s late goal at the death would of any satisfaction for the Blueshirts.

Given the performance of India in the first two matches, it will like living in a fool’s paradise to expect them to beat world number one Germany in their final league tie on Monday.

In the other games of the day, the Netherlands pipped Australia 1-0 while Argentina edged out Belgium 3-2. England sneaked past Germany 2-1.

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