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| July 8, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1426 |
Australia face India in semis
ROTTERDAM, July 7: Defending champions India will clash with Australia in semifinal of the Junior World Cup hockey tournament for men on Friday. In other semifinal, Spain, top ranked team in the championship, are set to clash with Argentina, runners-up to India in 2001 at Hobart.
While India coach Harendra Singh said outcome of Friday’s match would depend on the days form, his Australian counterpart Mark Hager preferred to hedge his bet, saying the encounter would be close.
But neither coach was prepared to commit on the result and understandably so.
Indians have been typically unpredictable in their performance that has swung from sublime, as against the Netherlands whom them beat 4-1, to mediocre during their 1-0 win versus England last night that clinched them semifinal berth.
In contrast, Australians, ranked third, have been sustaining a high level of performance except during their shock 1-3 defeat to Argentina on Wednesday which could be put down to slackness due to the fact that they had already qualified for semifinal.
However, Indian camp would have surely looked closely at two other matches that stretched Australia. Pakistan lost 2-3 to Aussies, while unheralded but talented Malaysia held them to a 3-3 draw.
Australian defence in both these matches was put to test and there were moments when they looked as vulnerable as next team.
Hager admitted he was concerned about the sudden lapses in concentration, but was confident his team would tighten up.
“We need to play consistently against teams like India and Pakistan. On Friday, we would be very focussed which was not the case when we took on Argentina. Also, a couple of our key players would have recovered fully from their niggles. So, we hope to be on pace for semifinal against India,” he said.
On his part, Harendra put up a bold front saying if India play to their potential, then they can go all the way to win World Cup for second consecutive time.
—PPI
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