Pride at stake as India play Japan

Indervir Grewal

Bhubaneswar, January 25

From going for a medal to playing for pride — a disheartened India will look to arrest their slide at the World Cup when they take on reigning Asian Games champions Japan in the 9th to 16th classification round in Rourkela tomorrow.

After their shock loss in the crossovers, India must pick themselves up quickly as they still have two more games left in the tournament. Their first hurdle, though easy on paper, will be a tricky one to cross.

Since winning the Asian Games in 2018, Japan have seen a decline. They finished 11th in their home Olympics. It was the last time they faced a full-strength India, losing 3-5. Since then Japan have beaten India twice and lost twice, but in all those matches India had fielded a second-string side.

Japan lost all their matches at the World Cup, scoring just two goals and conceding 12. But India’s morale will not be at its highest. Coach Graham Reid had said after the New Zealand game that the team would “focus on the next two games”, and his players have had three days to recover from the loss.

To not register their worst finish at the World Cup would be motivation enough for India to show up in the right frame of mind. India’s worst finish was 12th, in 1986, and losing to Japan will push them into the 13th to 16th bracket.