Men’s Hockey World Cup: India vs. Netherlands in 4th Quarter Finals

Bhubaneswar: In the 4th quarterfinal of the 2018 Hockey World Cup the hosts India will meet the Netherlands. The Men in Blue have the terrific home support of fans at the Kalinga Stadium with the stadium filled up to the brim whenever they are playing.

However, the Netherlands would not be an easy team to defeat. The Netherlands men ’s hockey team is one of the most successful teams in the world. They have won the Summer Olympics twice, the Hockey World Cup three times, won the Champions Trophy eight times. Also, they have won the EuroHockey Nations Championship three times and the Hockey World League once.

Harendra Singh’s boys made it straight to the quarterfinals after topping Group C. After brushing aside South Africa 5-0 in the first league match, India managed a 2-2 draw against Belgium in the second. They ended the group stages with an enigmatic 5-1 victory against Canada in crossovers of Hockey World Cup.

Simranjeet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, drag flick specialist Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, and Mandeep Singh will be the Indian hockey players to watch out for in the quarterfinal match.

The Netherlands finished 2nd in Pool D and had to play their crossover match against Canada. The match was convincingly won 5-0 by Billy Bakker’ troops. The Dutch have really shown a lot of character and bounced back well after the 1-4 defeat to Germany in the 2nd league game. However, their A game is still not seen in the competition and it is likely that they will bring it out against India. The Dutch have failed to make use of the penalty corners. Indian hockey management can take advantage of this Dutch weakness.

This game is of paramount importance. The winner of this match will meet Australia in semi-finals in 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup.

The match will start at 7 pm at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

Also Read: Hockey World Cup: England, Australia Enter Semifinals