In its second match of Pool D at the men’s world cup on Sunday night, the Indian hockey team played a stalemate against England. As both sides failed to make a breakthrough throughout the 60 minutes, the India side had a goal from Abhishek, which was disallowed in the third quarter.
India had made a winning start beating Spain 2-0, while England had also cruised to a 5-0 win over Wales in its opening match of the tournament.
India will now be aiming to finish 1st in the group to seal a direct berth to the quarterfinals. After the drawn match in Rourkela, India is currently second in the group with four points in two matches.
England is on top on the virtue of a superior goal difference. This means India needs to dish out a strong performance in their final Pool game against Wales, with Harmanpreet and his men focusing on scoring as many goals as possible.
A top spot would ensure a direct qualification to the quarterfinals of the tournament. However, if India finishes second or third in Pool D, they will have to play the crossovers.
Earlier in the day, Spain had also secured a huge 5-1 win over Wales; the latter has the worst goal difference (-9) in the pool, while Spain have the same GD as India (+2). England, meanwhile, have a difference of 5 goals. If India finish second in the pool, they will play the third-placed side in Pool C that has Netherlands, New Zealand, Chile and Malaysia.
Likewise, if India finish third, they will take on the second-placed side in Pool C.
India will take on Wales, the lowest ranked side in the pool, in their final group match on January 19 in Bhubaneswar while England will up against Spain.
