KUALA LUMPUR: Spain, ranked sixth in the world, and eyeing for the first ever Men’s Junior World Cup (JWC) title, produced another stunning performance to upset two-time champion India 4-1 at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium here, tonight.
The victory means the Junior Red Sticks, who started their JWC 2023 campaign by demolishing Canada 7-0 in their Group C opening match on Tuesday, are almost certain of advancing to the quarter-finals, but need to be cautious of South Korea in the last group fixture on Saturday, while India play Canada in their quest for a spot in quarter-finals.
In tonight’s match, the Spaniards showed no patience as they began their goal scoring feat as early as the first minute when Pol Cabre Verdiell netted a field goal, before Andreas Rafi converted a penalty corner in the 18th minute.
India, ranked third in the world, tried to rebounce from the early setback with Rohit’s 33rd minute penalty corner strike but Spain demoralised them with Verdiell’s 41st minute penalty corner and Rafi’s penalty stroke in the 60th minute.
Spain’s head coach Oriol Torras Puig said though his side top the group with six points above South Korea and India, who have three points each, they’re not going to take the Korean challenge lightly.
“Tonight, it was a very good match for both teams, very high intensity and strong pressure, but we managed to score in counter attacks. For me, the next match is the most important one because we want to win and qualify for the quarter-finals as group champions,” he said during the post-match press conference.
The best ever achievement for Spain in the JWC is finishing third in the 2005 Rotterdam edition hosted by the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, world number four, the Netherlands, revived their chance for a last eight spot by beating fellow continental rivals Belgium 5-3 in a Group D match.
Timo Boers emerged as the saviour for the 2022 EuroHockey Junior Championship winners after converting the opening goal via a penalty corner in the ninth minute and final minute penalty stroke, while Casper Van Der Veen (18’), Lucas Veen (40’) and Menno Boeren (53’) were also on target.
Hugo Labouchere scored a brace for Belgium after converting a penalty corner in the 10th minute and penalty stroke in the 35th minute while Maximilian Langer scored a field goal in the 12th minute.
The Netherland’s head coach Jesse Mahieu said his charges were slightly undisciplined in defence and that resulted in giving away seven penalty corners, besides earning a yellow and three green cards.
“But what is great to see is they can actually turn it around…It was a very tough match, hard win for us. I think, considering (with only) training two months together, not able to play matches it is good, because you need matches to grow.
“Against Pakistan we really fought for that, but we couldn’t convert, but in this game we fought till the end and could convert. I am not here to say deserved win, but happy to win this match to build confidence in playing together, and just to make sure how to take the next step,” he said.
The Netherlands, who are second in the group with four points after a 3-3 draw against Pakistan yesterday, are set to face New Zealand in their last group match, while third placed Belgium (3 points), take on Pakistan, who beat New Zealand 4-0 to top the group.–Bernama
