FIH Pro League: Indian men’s hockey team outclassed Belgium’s tiki-taka hockey, lose 1-4 | Hockey News

Often playing the role of a player-coach on the field, PR Sreejesh flailed his arms and, from underneath his helmet, yelled at his teammates to let them know how exactly he was feeling about their performance. The microphones couldn’t exactly capture his tirade. But the goalkeeper’s body language suggested he must not have had pleasant things to say.India’s Pro League match against Belgium was only 14 minutes old when that happened. But if Sreejesh was trying to wake up the rest of the team, his hollering didn’t have the desired effect.
India went on to lose 4-1. The scoreline, however, wasn’t the worst thing about the feeble submission to Belgium on Thursday night. The result in matches like these in the build-up to the Olympics always come with an asterisk – although for how long India’s under-performance can be seen as an ‘experiment’ or ‘holding the cards close to their chest’ can be debated.
The worrying bits, from India’s point of view, would be the collapse in the face of Belgium’s subjugation and the fact that for the second overseas tour in a row, after Australia last month, India have been slow off the blocks.
The five matches against Australia gave India a chance to settle in, and they did improve with every passing match but lost the series 0-5. Their start to the Belgium leg of the Pro League has been similar. India haven’t yet gotten going in their two matches so far, against Argentina and the hosts.
Belgium vs India. (Hockey India)
At the Paris Olympics, they will not have the luxury to ease in. If India drop points in any of their early matches – one of them will be against Argentina – they will have a lot of catching up to do later on and that might be tough given they end their group-stage commitments against Belgium and Australia, the two teams against whom they have consently struggled.
Looking overawed
While Australia was a rude reality check, Craig Fulton’s side looked overawed the Olympic champions’ tiki-taka hockey on Thursday.Fulton started with the same 11 that began against Argentina the previous day, with Sreejesh once again featuring in all four quarters. But there were times in the match when it felt like they were playing with each other for the first time.
The Indian players were left to chase shadows under lights in Antwerp as Belgium moved the ball around from stick to stick at dizzying speed and pinpoint accuracy. The hosts imposed themselves, forcing Harmanpreet Singh & Co. to retreat deep into their half. The relentless pressing meant India kept on losing possession cheaply and made one too many errors, which constantly kept the defence under pressure.
Being attacked from all sides, India were suffocated for space and the 1-4 scoreline could have been worse. In the first quarter alone, Tanguy Cosyns had three golden chances to score, each opportunity arising from a defensive make from India.
The first time, Cosyns was given enough time and space on top of the ‘D’, with no defender there to close him down, to unleash a powerful shot that thudded the goalpost. Later, a weak pass Amit Rohidas from the ‘D’ went straight to a Belgian player, allowing them to launch a counter that nearly led to a goal. And then, Hardik Singh tried to switch flanks with an aerial ball, which lacked the dance and fell straight at the stick of a Belgium defender, resulting in another turnover of possession.
A lot of India’s makes were forced because of Belgium’s aggressive pressing. On the rare occasion when India pressed high, the way Fulton wanted, Belgium would steal the ball and counterattack so quickly that it would catch India off guard.
That’s how Belgium scored the first goal in the 22nd minute. After employing a half-court press in the first quarter, India tried to be more assertive and block Belgium’s outlets, that is the first pass from the back to restart the game.
Mandeep Singh attempted to block Oliver Biekens’ pass and behind him, the rest of India’s players covered the other channels. But Belgium deceived India faking passes, showing one way and going the other, and with sublime one-touch play they passed India’s midfield and entered the ‘D’.
Sreejesh didn’t decisively block the initial attempt on goal, which kept the ball in play. His half-hearted save fell at the stick of Felix Denayer, who was completely unmarked and simply had to tap the ball into the goal of an out-of-position Sreejesh.
It was a rare off day for Sreejesh, who was outstanding against Argentina. He let the ball slip between his legs to concede the second goal from a penalty corner. It didn’t help that none of his teammates, save for Manpreet Singh who was better than most, put their hand up and took responsibility.
The young Abhishek raised some hopes with a finely-taken tomahawk that beat the Belgian goalkeeper and reduced India’s deficit in the 55th minute. But that was a mere consolation on a night when India were far from their best.