Still standing: India overcome two-goal deficit to beat Netherlands and enter semis | Germany next

Kuala Lumpur, December 12

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India produced a spectacular display of grit and character to advance to the semifinals with a thrilling 4-3 win over Netherlands in the hockey men’s Junior World Cup here today. Trailing 0-2 at halftime and 2-3 in the third quarter, India exhibited immense resilience to beat the Dutch in the quarterfinal and set up a last-four clash against Germany.

Semifinals lineup

• India vs Germany
• Spain vs France

Netherlands set the ball rolling early in the first quarter with a penalty corner conversion from Timo Boers (5th minute). Despite the Indian side playing a solid defence, Pepijn van der Heijden (16th) scored for Netherlands in the second quarter through another penalty corner conversion taking their lead to 2-0 at halftime.

We always stuck to the plan. Even though we were trailing, we wanted to focus on the basics. We were focussed on cutting down on the mistakes we made in the first half. The team was confident of making a comeback. Rohit, Player of the match

India came back strongly in the third quarter with a goal from Aditya Lalage (34th), who was assisted by Araijeet Singh Hundal. Two minutes later, Araijeet scored the equaliser for India with a penalty stroke. India kept the pressure on the Dutch but the European side managed yet another penalty corner that was converted by Olivier Hortensius (44th).

With less than 10 minutes remaining, the Indians raised the tempo of their game and it proved fruitful as Sourabh Kushwaha (52nd) found the back of the net off a rebound following a brilliant attack to get the score reading 3-3. Another opportunity for a penalty corner conversion was created and India made full use of it with captain Uttam Singh (57th) scoring with a deflection to put India ahead with just three minutes left.

India’s victory was backed by a grand show of character to hold off pressure from the Dutch side, and the cynosure of India’s defence was Rohit who was hard to breach — as he blocked away six successive penalty corners in the final quarter. Netherlands had 24 shots on target and 12 penalty corners compared to India’s 14 shots and five penalty corners.

Germany oust defending champs Argentina

India will face six-time champions Germany on Thursday. Germany edged out defending champions Argentina 2-1 in a thriller to avenge their loss in last edition’s final. “It was a crazy emotional game,” Player of the match Matteo Poljaric said. “We kept on fighting. They had many PCs, we had incredible defence and I think we are just happy to win this really tough fight against Argentina,” he added.

In the other quarterfinals, France held on in a thrilling finish to beat Australia 3-2, while Spain maintained their momentum in a 4-2 win against Pakistan. — Agencies