Rotterdam: The Indian men’s hockey team displayed a lion heart before going down 1-4 to the leaders of the Netherlands in a shoot-out, as both sides were almost knocked out of the FIH title race 2-2 on regulation time. was closed from Pro League here on Saturday. India They are still in third place with 30 points from 15 matches and just one match left. Netherlands top the table with 33 points from 13 matches, while Olympic champions Belgium are second with 31 points from 14 matches with two matches remaining. A breathtaking hockey showdown between two world-class teams as both India and Netherlands battled each other in every department of the game throughout 60 minutes.
While the Indians had the better part of possession of the ball, at least the first two quarters, and went for the offensive from the start, the Dutch relied more on counter-attacks to create goal-scoring opportunities. There was also a battle for supremacy between two of the best goalkeepers in the world in PR Sreejesh and Piramin Block.
Both Sreejesh and Block kept their team afloat by making excellent saves on several occasions in the first two quarters. But it was the Netherlands who took the lead in the 10th minute when Dirk de Wilder created the opportunity with some brilliant stickwork in the right flank for Tijman Reyenga, who dribbled two Indian defenders before Sreejesh was kicked out of the house.
The Indians pressed the Dutch defense hard with a word go and got two back-to-back penalty corners in the 10th minute but the home team’s defense was on alert to thwart the threats. Then, Abhishek had two great chances to give India the lead, but on both occasions Blake came to the Netherlands’ rescue with a breathtaking save.
India got another penalty corner a few minutes later but lost the opportunity. If Block was brilliant, the experienced Sreejesh was not to be left behind as he denied the Netherlands the scoring. India equalized in the 22nd minute with another brilliant field goal from Dilpreet Singh from the top of the circle. He uses the pace from Varun Kumar to slam the ball into the bottom left corner of the block. The Netherlands secured their first penalty corner in the 16th minute which was well defended by the Indians. After a change of ends, the Netherlands secured two more penalty corners, but failed to overtake the Indian defence. India also secured a penalty corner in the third quarter but lost the opportunity. The fourth and final quarter was no different as both sides matched each other for sticks to take the lead over each other. It was the Netherlands who eventually managed to get the upper hand in the 47th minute through a field strike from Koen Bijnen. There was hardly anything to differentiate the world number three Netherlands and world number three. 4 India. The Netherlands scored two more penalty corners with a little over two minutes left in the game but both were wasted. With 23 seconds left from the final hooter, India earned three consecutive penalty corners, the last of which was converted by Harmanpreet Singh to level the score at 2-2 and take the match into a shoot-out. But in the shoot-out, the Indians cut a sorry figure as Netherlands created four out of five chances, while only Vivek Sagar Prasad found the net for the visitors. India and Netherlands again played against each other in the second match of the double leg tie on Sunday.
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