Hockey World Cup, IND vs ENG: India eye last 8 spot, England seek revenge

FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 India vs England Preview: The Indian men's team would be looking to get two in two and make sure that they qualify as group toppers

India made plenty of mistakes in the third and the fourth quarter in the inaugural game of their Hockey World Cup 2023 campaign against Spain. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh missed a penalty stroke and gave up three chances to score on penalty corners. Now against England, a much better hockey-playing nation than Spain, India can’t afford to slacken their way to victory. 

The English showed their intent in their opening game against Wales. Striking five goals back to back and giving hardly any opportunity to their opponents, England showed why they are ranked fifth in the World. Currently, at the top of the World Hockey Pro League table, the David Ames-led team would be eager to beat the hosts and set a statement for others. 

Revenge on the mind of English 

England would be looking to get back at India and would be in no mood to forget their draw at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and loss at the Tokyo Olympics in the quarterfinal. While India ousted the English in the Olympics with a 3-1 win and booked form themselves a first-ever Semis berth nearly four decades, it was the draw in the Commonwealth Games that forced England to face Australia in the semis and thereby miss out on the opportunity for the gold medal. 

Now, at India’s home and Hockey’s biggest stand-alone event, a victory for the English would be the sweetest way to avenge those losses. 

India must not let go of the chances 

The Indian team would have to realise that the chances would come few and far and unlike in their last game, here, they would have to convert those chances as there would be punishment for no conversion. Spain was not able to score on any of the three penalty corners that India conceded, but the English scored three of their five goals against Wales via penalty corners and hence their conversion rate is excellent. 

The Indian forwards, especially Samsher and Mandeep Singh, would have to be on their toes to ensure they do not fail to hit the ball in the back of the post when opportunities come running to them. Similarly, Harmanapreet would have to forget the last game and come out fresh to convert the chances during penalty corners. 

Match Details

India vs England

Group D

Time- 07:00 pm IST

Date- January 15th, 2023

Venue: Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, Rourkela

Tournament- FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023

Broadcast and Live Streaming- Star Sports and Disney Plus Hotstar

India FIH World Cup Squad

Abhishek, Surender Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Lalit Upadhyay, Krishan Pathak, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, PR Sreejesh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Akashdeep Singh, Amit Rohidas (vice-captain), Vivek Sagar Prasad and Sukhjeet Singh.

England FIH World Cup Squad

David Ames (captain), James Albery, Liam Ansell, Nick Bandurak, Will Calnan, David Condon, David Goodfield, Harry Martin, James Mazarelo (GK), Nick Park, Ollie Payne (GK), Phil Roper, Scott Rushmere, Liam Sanford, Tom Sorsby, Zach Wallace, Jack Waller, Sam Ward