India came out smoking hot on home turf beating Spain 2-0. This was expected to be a tough game. Spain has beaten India thrice in 2022. They have a history of being spoilers. Spain and India (along with Netherlands) have been the only countries that have qualified in ALL world cups since the tournament started. So, this is a huge win for India under its belt.
In the first half, India was aggressive and attacked the penalty circle with vengeance. Whenever Spaniards had possession, there were 2-3 Indian defenders around them. This risky strategy is not sustainable without incredible fitness of Indian players and extremely fast (almost every 2-3 min) and seamless rotation by coach Reid. I saw one other amazing skill displayed by the Indian midfielders. They scooped the ball to the right flank with consistent success, yielding several penetrations and securing at least three penalty corners. All these opportunities yielded two goals. First goal was by Amit Rohidas, the local Sundargadh hero from Rourkela (where the game was being played), during a penalty corner rebound. The second goal was by Hardik Singh (Nope, not that Cricket guy), attacking from the left baseline with his 3-D skills (which means raising the ball on the hockey stick and running with it). Amit’s first goal was also the 200th goal by India in the world cup (the fifth country to do so).
In the second half, India lost a very simple opportunity. Captain Harmanpreet also missed a rare penalty stroke. All of these misses impacted our mental focus in subsequent penalty corners. In the fourth quarter, an Indian player received a ten-minute suspension (unfair from my perspective) and India had to resolve to the defense. Overall, excellent start for India. Please watch the next crucial India-England game on Sunday at 7 pm (India time) and 8:30 am on the east coast in USA
As I had mentioned earlier, I will be watching every game played in Bhubaneshwar. I watched Argentina-South Africa and Australia-France. Despite being ranked seventh in the world, Argentina was disorganized and played an awful game. Luckily, they won against weak South Africa 1-0. Ranked one and favorite Australians are an amazing team. High skills, well organized, fast and efficient in the penalty circle converting penetrations into goals. Naturally, they won 8-0 against another weak team France. I will write about my experience of watching live matches (vs watching matches on TV) in my next edition.
