Last Updated on 30/07/2024 by Ankita Jain
India vs Ireland Hockey Match: The Indian men’s hockey team has won its third match in the group stage with a great performance. It defeated Ireland by 2-0. Both the goals in this match were scored by captain Harmanpreet Singh. Now the next match of the Indian team in Pool-B will be against Belgium on August 1. Earlier, the Indian team had defeated New Zealand by 3-2. While it played a 1-1 draw with Argentina. Now
Apart from captain Harmanpreet, goalkeeper P R Sreejesh also performed brilliantly in the match. The Indian team, which made many mistakes in the first two matches, kept full pressure on Ireland till halftime in the third match of Pool B on Tuesday. Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored the first goal on a penalty stroke in the 11th minute and the second goal on a penalty corner in the 19th minute.
In the first match, Harmanpreet scored the winning goal on a penalty stroke in the 59th minute in a 3-2 win over New Zealand. On Monday, against Rio Olympic champions Argentina, she converted a penalty corner in the 59th minute itself, saving India from defeat and drawing the match 1-1.
India took the lead for the first time by scoring a goal in the first quarter
Experienced midfielders Manpreet Singh and Hardik Singh, who had given an average performance in the last match, played brilliantly today and made many good moves. For the first time, India took the lead by scoring a goal in the first quarter, whereas in the last two matches, the first goal was scored by the opposing team.
Despite this victory, India’s weakness of losing penalty corners was again exposed in the third quarter. The Indian team, which lost 13 penalty corners in the first two matches, did not lose a single penalty corner till halftime, but lost 8 penalty corners in the third quarter which kept goalkeeper Sreejesh busy.
Ireland got 10 penalty corners and India got 9 penalty corners and one stroke in this match. India has to play the next two matches against strong teams like current champion Belgium and Australia and before that coach Fulton will have to tighten this weak link. Fulton, who joined the Indian team last year, has been the former coach of the Ireland team.
Apart from this, the Indian team also could not score any goal after the 19th minute. The consequences of not being able to score penalty corners and field goals may have to be suffered in difficult matches in the future.
The team got a penalty corner in the second minute itself
The Indian team started aggressively and got a penalty corner in the second minute, however Harmanpreet could not convert it into a goal. In the first quarter itself, in the 11th minute, India got a penalty stroke which Harmanpreet did not miss to convert into a goal. In the first quarter, the Ireland team failed to attack the Indian goal.
India came close to doubling their lead in the second minute of the second quarter when Lalit Upadhyay took the ball forward from the right but his position in front of goal was not right and the shot hit the bar.
India got three consecutive penalty corners in the next minute and the fourth one was converted by Harmanpreet, which was her fourth goal in this Olympics. Four minutes before halftime, the Indian team again came close to scoring a goal, but the forward line could not coordinate and the opportunity was lost.
After the break, the Irish team started aggressively and continuously entered the Indian circle in the third quarter. India’s weakness of losing penalty corners could have proved costly once again if goalkeeper Sreejesh was not alert. Ireland got eight penalty corners in the third quarter, but did not succeed.