India women stunned by USA in Olympic Hockey Qualifier
RANCHI: The match between India and the US began with a bang as fireworks lit up the skies here on Saturday. But it ended in deafening silence.
It was the worst possible start that the Indian women’s hockey team could make in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers as they went down 0-1 in the last match of the day.
The hosts fought hard but were outplayed by their coach Janeke Schopman’s former team as Abigail Tamer’s goal in the second quarter helped the US avenge their 2019 loss when the Indian team had beaten them in the qualifiers to make it to the Tokyo Olympics.
India will now have to win their match on Sunday against New Zealand to get their campaign back on track and keep their hopes alive of making the Paris Olympics. The way New Zealand played against Italy on Saturday, it surely won’t be an easy job.
For a start, they will have to calm down and play to the plan. As Neha said after the match, “We were hurrying a lot early in the game. Even though we had the ball inside the D we failed to make the passes and score. And then things changed after we conceded the goal.”
Even Schopman admitted that the players were rushed. “I haven’t seen the composure on the ball or the confidence that I’m used to seeing during training.”
The Indians were put under pressure from the word go and the physicality of the US players seemed to have taken the Indians by surprise.
And even as the crowd tried to find their voice, the US sounded the board through Amanda Golini. However, the goal was disallowed as the video umpire ruled there was a block by one of the US players. That didn’t slow down the world No. 15 team though as they controlled the game well and didn’t allow the Indians to settle down.
The high press continued in the second quarter too and the US took the lead within seconds of the restart. Monika first failed to trap the ball at the top of the circle and the ball was played into the D where Udita also made a mess of blocking it. Tamer’s first shot was saved by Savita but she scored on the rebound.
The goal seemed to have awakened the Indian players and they then won three consecutive penalty corners but none of them were converted. Sangita Kumari and Navneet Kaur then had shies at the goal but they couldn’t hit the target.
Sadly, the Indian team failed to keep up their good showing in the third quarter and it was the US that kept threatening the Indian goal. They should have even increased their lead but Savita was able to deny them.
With the backing of the fans, the hosts picked themselves up towards the end and won three more PCs. But it was of no use. In the fourth quarter, for once it seemed that India had equalized when Udita converted from their seventh PC. But it was ruled out as the ball had taken a deflection off Jyoti’s foot.
They kept up the fight even after that but it was all too late and the crowd slowly began to disperse in disappointment.
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