India face must-win Australia clash, need Netherlands favour to keep World Cup dream alive | Hockey News
“Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”Those famous closing words from ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ could well be the Indian women’s hockey team’s mantra as they chase a place in the World Cup semifinals against all odds.After going down to the Netherlands in their last match following another brave performance, India will have to beat Australia on Sunday in their second game of Pool E and hope that China lose to Netherlands in the other group game.Considering how Netherlands have played so far, beating China doesn’t seem like an improbable task. But China, too, haven’t been pushovers. They have remained unbeaten in the tournament so far and gave the Dutch a run for their money at the Olympics final. In their last four Pro League meetings, however, the Dutch have completely dominated them, and India would want that trend to continue on Sunday.But rather than thinking too much about what may or may not happen in that match, India will have to focus on their own game against the Aussies.“Our focus has to remain on ourselves because we have one very important match, and we are ready for it,” skipper Salima Tete said. “We have to give everything we have because it’s our last match, against Australia, and we have to treat it like a final. We have a chance, and that’s what I keep telling the team.”So far, India have held China to a 2-2 draw, beaten South Africa 6-1, held England to a goalless draw and gone down to Netherlands 0-2. Their unbeaten streak may have come to an end on Friday night, but they put up another impressive showing and, if they can maintain that level against the Aussies, a win is certainly not beyond them.Interestingly, India played four practice matches against Australia this year and did well against a team in transition. They lost the first match, won the second in a shoot-out after it finished 1-1 in regulation time, beat the hosts 2-0 in the third and then went down 2-3 in the fourth.Speaking about Sunday’s match, India coach Sjoerd Marijne said, “We see it as a quarterfinal. It’s always very close (against Australia), and that’s how I think the match on Sunday will be. There will not be many secrets because we play many times against each other.”Having said that, the coach will still hope for one major change — India converting their chances. While they have been disciplined in defence, they haven’t been able to maintain the same discipline in front of goal.“Against big teams, if you get three opportunities, you have to convert one or two. That’s something we keep working on,” said the Dutchman. “It’s the same with penalty corners. At the moment we are not scoring off a lot of penalty corners…and we know that. But we have the quality, and I have confidence in Navneet (Kaur) and Deepika.”And perhaps that is where India’s biggest challenge — and their biggest opportunity — lies. They have shown they can stay in the contest against the best in the world. On Sunday, they will need to turn that resilience into goals.India have done their bit before against the odds. Now, they need one more big performance — and a little help from Netherlands — to keep their World Cup dream alive.
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