FIH Pro League: Indian Men, women face Spanish wall

Chandigarh, February 25

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As the hockey bandwagon reaches Bhubaneswar, the Indian women’s team will for the first time get to host FIH Pro League matches, and share the stage with the men’s team. India will host Spain’s men’s and women’s teams for double-headers over the weekend.

In their first Pro League season, the Indian women have only faced China so far, in a double-header in Oman. The two victories over China would have settled some of the nerves for world No. 9 India, but coach Janneke Schopman will be aware that a much harder challenge awaits them in the coming weeks.

World No. 7 Spain are also making their Pro League debut. Like India, they have also played just two matches so far. However, while India beat world No. 10 China, Spain got a much tougher initiation, losing to world No. 1 Netherlands. Despite the gap in ranking, Spain went toe-to-toe with the reigning Olympics and world champions. They showed great discipline in defence and intent in attack. They lost the first game 0-1 and managed to hold Netherlands 2-2 before losing in the shootout.

Spain’s deep defence and control in the midfield was particularly impressive. India will need to be swift with the ball and sharp with their pressing to break down the Spanish defence. Though they are going through a transition phase, Spain will definitely be a handful for India.

Midfield battle

The men will face a similar challenge. Starting their campaign against teams ranked much lower, world No. 5 India were expected to cruise against No. 12 France and No. 14 South Africa. However, the 2-5 loss to France came as a rude shock. India struggled to create space against a compact French defence. France also denied the high-pressing India many counterattacking opportunities — they cut down on the number of turnovers by being smarter with the ball. In fact, they frustrated India into conceding turnovers, and took advantage of their defensive lapses.

In world No. 8 Spain, India will face an even tougher defence. Spain like to sit back and hit on the counter, and will look to take India by surprise. They are also much stronger in possession than France, and India will face a tough battle in the midfield.

Spain have a new coach — Max Caldas, who won multiple Olympics and World Cup medals with the Netherlands men’s and women’s teams. One of Caldas’ main objectives will be to make Spain more versatile in attack. They showed their intent against England. Spain have many skillful forwards, and Caldas would want them to be more clinical with their finishing.

India coach Graham Reid will want the same from his players. A major reason for India’s defeat against France was their poor finishing. Their penalty corner conversion rate was particularly dismal. If Harmanpreet Singh, leading scorer in the season, starts firing, India will have a definite edge against Spain.