Junior hockey World Cup quarterfinals: India’s counterattacks vs Belgium’s defence

On Wednesday, India will tackle Belgium within the newest installment of what’s turning into an intriguing, albeit one-sided, rivalry in worldwide hockey.
When it involves conferences between the 2 groups’ senior sides, Belgium have had an higher hand of late. But when the U-21s meet within the Junior World Cup quarterfinals, India can be hoping for a repeat of the 2016 Junior World Cup closing end result, after they prevailed.
Whatever the end result, Wednesday’s match between the 2 sides can be a traditional conflict of kinds, with India anticipated to make use of their pace to press and counterattack, with Belgium counting on their stable defensive construction to manage the match.
High balls and trapping
Belgium have had the tendency to resort to excessive balls, relying on match state of affairs; a method they’ve used affectively on the senior stage as properly.
Against India, who press aggressively and relentlessly, particularly on the shops (the primary go performed from the again to restart the sport), that is likely to be robust. Belgium coach Jeroen Baart, nonetheless, stated his gamers will proceed utilizing excessive balls, which can put the microscope on India’s trapping and intercepting abilities.

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On each fronts, India haven’t impressed. The staff’s undoing towards France within the event opener was their lack of ability to manage excessive balls, and like senior staff vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh noticed, they weren’t medical with their interceptions as properly. Given that each, India and Belgium, play zonal defence, studying passes and intercepting them will turn out to be essential to beat the opposition markers.
Counterattacks
Few sides in world hockey are pretty much as good in counterattacking as India. This U-21 staff has a mixture of pacy midfielders, like Gurmukh Singh, and forwards, like Uttam Singh, and powerful gamers like Araijeet Singh Hundal who can run by defences. In all three group stage matches, India made their counterattacks work.
Against Belgium, nonetheless, India’s endurance can be examined. If their senior staff template is something to go by, Belgium will sit again and keep their defensive construction, giving the Indians little or no house to work with.
Under head coach Graham Reid, the senior staff has began to point out the endurance and quietness to rotate the ball and recycle possession till they discover a hole within the opposition defence. It’s one thing the juniors must observe, curb their pure intuition to assault and patiently anticipate a gap to create a goal-scoring likelihood.
Belgium’s proper vs India’s left
A number of Belgium’s threatening strikes have originated from their proper, with winger Louis de Backer routinely operating previous defences. In that sense, in reality, they’re a typical European facet, who like to carry the ball, then transfer it shortly earlier than attacking from the precise.
However, worryingly from an Indian perspective, the left facet of their defence has been weak. Nearly all of France’s assaults had been a consequence of a mistake or a niche on India’s left. Canada and Poland, too, tried to use this however lacked the standard and the numbers up entrance.
Belgium will even attempt to use their physicality – their quantity 10 Jeremy Wilbers hits so onerous that when he by chance caught the stick of a Chilean participant, it flew a couple of metres away into the promoting boards. For India, it’ll come all the way down to how they use their pace and talent to neutralise this menace.

Penalty corners
On paper, India have an edge over Belgium on this division, not simply due to the excessive conversion charge but additionally due to the number of choices at their disposal.
Reid has 4 males to select from in the case of penalty corners – Sanjay Kumar, the staff’s go-to man, Hundal, Sharda Nand Tiwari and Abhishek Lakra. This signifies that at any given level, regardless of the rolling substitutions, India have at the very least two drag-flick choices on the sector, a luxurious of kinds.
While India’s penalty nook specialists have blown aside lower-ranked opponents, this can be their largest take a look at but.
Quarterfinals
10.30am: Germany vs Spain
1.30pm: Netherlands vs Argentina
4.30pm: France vs Malaysia
7.30pm: Belgium vs India
Live on Star Sports Network