India to face England in Junior Hockey World Cup today in Lucknow

After defeating Canada in their opening match, India now faces tough challenge in the form of England.

England won their first match against South Africa, scoring four goals and conceding two.

Indian coach, Harendra Singh said after the first game that the team played in first gear mode but against England they have to shift to second gear as they are a strong opponents.

The strategy of Team India in this tournament is to take one game at a time, and step by step progress further.

©TheIndianExpress

India has not won this tournament since last 15 years and they will be hoping to end this drought this time.

India defeated Canada 4-0 in the inaugural match of the tournament and are full of confidence. But they must not get buoyed with the performance as there is still a long way to go.

England has also not won this tournament in their history, so they will give their all to beat India in their own backyard.

India, unlike England, will have full home support and the English coach is aware of this fact. But he still hopes his team will perform with full confidence against India.

Key players from the Indian side are forward Mandeep Singh, defender Harmanpreet Singh, captain Harjeet Singh, penalty corner specialist Varun Kumar and goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya.

A look at the various results so far in the Tournament-

 NEW ZEALAND vs GERMANY (1-2)

©FIH

In their quest for the 3rd consecutive world cup, Germany had to sweat it out for a win against New Zealand.
The Kiwis gave a tough fight but in the end the experience of the champion team took them to victory.
Germany went down by a goal inside opening 5 minutes but Germany didn't panic and made a flurry of attacks on the Kiwis goalpost. They equalised in the 24th minute and got their reward of winning goal in the 51st minute.

Germany are currently top in their pool.

NETHERLANDS vs MALAYSIA (7-2)

©FIH

                                           

The Dutch side thrashed Malaysia with their fast paced game. Malaysia got their entry in the tournament at the expense of Pakistan.

Malaysia scored their first goal in the 59th minute when they were 6-0 down.
It was a completely dominating performance by the Dutch.

Their next match is against Belgium, which may well be pool topper decider.

ARGENTINA vs AUSTRIA (1-1)

©FIH

Argentina were held for a draw by Austria, who qualified for the first team for this tournament.

Led by an Indian coach, Austria stunned Argentina as the match ended on a draw.

First half remained goalless but in the second half Argentina took the lead, but Austrian team equalised after 16 minutes through penalty corner.

The performance of Austria certainly grabbed a lot of eyeballs and it will be interesting to watch how they fare against other teams.

BELGIUM vs EGYPT (4-0)

©FIH

Belgium faced a weak challenge in the face of Egypt and cruised to a comfortable victory with two goals in each half.

All four goals were scored by four different players.

SPAIN vs JAPAN (4-1)

©FIH

After losing their first match against defending champions Germany, the Spanish side came hard at Japan.

They hit 3 goals in the first half. In the second they played defensively according to their strategy.

Lucas Garcia scored two goals for Spain.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com