India's Hockey World Cup dream ends before QF: What went wrong for Savita Punia & Co?
During the Crunch situation, when the Indian team was left behind or tried hard to stop other teams from scoring winners, Savita Punia began to hope for a shootout. He knew he was good at that and the team could trust his skills to win. He was in the same situation in the FIH World Cup crossover match against Spain on Sunday. The score is 0-0 and Spain encourages the winners. With three and a half minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Savita hopes the winner of India, and if not, he has the confidence to take the shootout.
Clara Ycart from Spain collected the ball outside the circle on the right, showing her skills by dribbling the ball past Indian defenders and managed to take shots to the goal, but Savita blocked him. Savita, who has brilliant through the match, gets his position and the correct reflex, but the ball is rebounded to Marta Sehu who converts opportunities from close range.
1-0 to Spain. India failed to find an equalizer in the remaining three minutes and they could not advance to the quarter -finals. The dream of the World Cup medal has been destroyed.
Where’s wrong for India?
Throughout the tournament, India failed to make it calculated when it came to change the opportunity. Head coach Janneke Schopman formed this team to play hockey attacking, demanding a high level of work and fitness level. The benefits are there to be seen in the Pro League match. But in the World Cup, for all hard work on the field, goals did not come when the team really needed it. Especially from the penalty point. The two 1-1 draw against England and China made damage to the group stage and the failure to score against Spain finally ended their World Cup.
In fact, in their previous matches, India created at least more opportunities compared to their opponents. Against Spain, even this is gone. Spain has 14 shots from the same ownership to India only six. India gets four penalties, but gloomy shows continue without the success of Dragflicks.
As expected, the match was intense. Both teams have spells where they dominate ownership. Physical Spain is troubling India because they are unable to win the ball in midfield, and they create all great opportunities.
The Schopman team showed a slight improvement in the second quarter, although Savita made them alive with three back-to-back rescue from the penalty. A great opportunity for India came through Salima Tete who ran along the left wing and handed it to Vandana Katariya but the sliding shot attacker drifted right above the goalpost. Vandana, who scored important goals against England, China and New Zealand, usually only needed half the chance to score goals. This is an opportunity where only he can repent, but he can’t.
Spain is a better team in the second half. They won the ball and are much better at a glance. India must defend the deep self and once again Savita’s saving stopped Spain to break the deadlock. Right when it seems that Savita’s heroic will give India the opportunity in a shootout, Ycart comes with a little brilliant game to manage Spain’s victory. Without hesitation, Spain deserves the goal and place in the quarter -finals.
What’s next for India at the World Cup?
Without hope to get to the quarter-finals, India will aim to break their invincible running at the World Cup against Canada on Monday (1 morning starting to become technically Tuesday) in the 9-16 classification match. Losses against Spain and three formidable group matches will make a big impact on them, physically and mentally, so it will not be easy at all.
India must play one more match after the match against Canada, which will determine their final standings at the World Cup this year. In the previous edition, India was finished eighth so that their ranking would not be better this time. No doubt this is a setback after running an impressive team at the Olympics where they finished fourth.
Which team managed to reach the quarter -finals?
Besides Spain, Germany, England and Belgium won the crossover match each to qualify for the quarter. The quarter -finals are: New Zealand vs Germany, the Netherlands vs Belgium, Australia vs Spain and Argentina vs British.
