10-man India storm into semis, keep hopes alive
India shed their attacking instincts, perfected the craft of stubborn defence by staying within a structure imply playing half-court and falling back to crowd their 25-yard territory
Having come through several tough situations in penalty shootouts, custodian PR Sreejesh was not unduly perturbed that the result of the hockey quarterfinal against Great Britain hinged on his heroics in the 2024 Olympics, which he has chosen as his swansong. He was feeling the excitement of a debutant thrust into the limelight. A veteran of four Olympics, Sreejesh duly surmounted the odds in the penalty shootout to carve a 4-2 victory that lifted India to the semi-finals.
There were smiles galore in the Indian camp when the hooter sounded the end of the regulation period – leaving India and Great Britain level on 1-1. It marked the end of a sustained period of heroic defence by the 10-player Indian side, something not famously associated with teams of yore. All-out attack has been India’s inherited legacy since their first appearance on the world stage in 1928.
Sunday morning was different. India shed their attacking instincts, perfected the craft of stubborn defence by staying within a structure, simply playing half-court and falling back to crowd their 25-yard territory. Yet, they succeeded in thwarting all-out raids from the British rivals. A red card flashed at defender Amit Rohidas early in the second quarter threatened to snuff the life out of the Indian challenge and turned this into an unequal battle – 10 players versus 11 for almost 40 minutes.
But the Indian team under Harmanpreet Singh regrouped quickly and went defensive to keep their aspirations alive. The smiles in the Indian camp at the end of the regulation period underscored that their aspirations were not just alive, but in Sreejesh’s safe hands. Also, Britain had lost the one-man advantage with the final hooter.
While Sreejesh was confident of delivering a positive result for India, the British players did not seem equally confident of going into a shootout against such an outstanding goalkeeper. In the last quarter of the match, which was mostly played in the Indian 25-yard territory, Britain’s players were often observed looking at the giant clock overlooking the field of play. They were desperate to breach the Indian defence just one time to secure passage into the semi-finals.
Sreejesh emerged with aplomb from the challenge as he let in only two goals from four British shootout attempts, while India fired on target on all four occasions to clinch victory – sparking celebrations among Indian supporters who have travelled from across the world to support the hockey team.
Less than an hour ago, there was a stunned silence in the stadium when South African umpire Sean Rapaport flashed the red card at Rohidas after rival midfielder William Calnan fell during a 16th minute midfield collision, indicating he had received a blow on his face. Just as the British player got up and walked off the turf, umpire Rapaport raised the red card, leaving the Indian camp dumbstruck.
India were incensed by the verdict, but the die had been cast. There was nothing to change this. A milder penalty of a yellow card for such an infringement was the talk around the stadium even as India regrouped to fight an unequal battle. It is in such situations that teams usually reveal the strength of their resolutions. India did exactly that by strengthening their defensive structure.
Five minutes later, the Indians surged into the lead when Harmanpreet’s rasping penalty corner went into the cage. It was now the time of the British to be stunned. India’s lead was neutralised within six minutes as Lee Morton scored on a rebound after Sreejesh had padded Gareth Furlong’s cross from the right.
The second half was a one-way street, but India were not willing to let their citadel fall without a contest. Sreejesh padded away a series of goal-bound shots and the defenders held firm on repeated raids, including eight penalty corners. Jarmanpreet Singh brought off a goal-line save behind the goalkeeper to keep India’s challenge alive.
Umpire Rapaport was back in focus at the end of the third quarter when he sent off Indian defender Sumit for a rough tackle on two British players, but he was back on the pitch in just a few minutes. Raiding almost at will, Britain threw everything into the attack, but in vain. India did not even concede a penalty corner in the last quarter. The final hooter produced more smiles among the Indians than sighs of relief.
Now the stage was set for Sreejesh to step up. India did well to score on all four attempts – erasing the unhappy memories of the 2023 World Cup when they repeatedly faltered in the shootout against New Zealand to fall short of making the quarterfinals.
Britain slipped behind in the shootout as Conor Williamson sent a reverse hit – their third attempt – soaring over the crossbar. Sreejesh then produced one of his trademark saves by diving to his right to block Phillip Roper’s shot.
Having converted their previous attempts through captain Harmanpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Lalit Upadhyay, India were smelling victory when Raj Kumar Pal came in and he sealed the shootout triumph with a deft scoop just over the diving goalkeeper.
A beaming Sreejesh sought to underplay his gallant show. “Shootouts are normal for goalkeepers, we practise them a lot,” he said. “The idea is to transfer the pressure to the opposition so they try something wrong.”
“One’s confidence goes up when your teammates are converting their attempts. They make my job easy, that’s just what happened here,” said Sreejesh.
In the semi-finals, India will meet the winners of the contest between world champions Germany and 2016 Olympic gold medallists Argentina.
Spain, who shocked defending champions Belgium 3-2 in the quarter-finals, now await the winner between two former Olympic champions Australia and The Netherlands.