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New Delhi: India beat Belgium 4-3 in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinal of the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup in Chennai on Friday, December 5. Sharda Nand Tiwari and captain Rohit scored the goals for the home team as the match ended 2-2 in regulation time.
Goalkeeper Prince Deep made two saves in the shootout to seal India's spot in the semifinals. The hosts will now take on defending champion Germany in the semifinal. Spain will face Argentina in the other last-four game.
India got off to a slow start as Belgium got the first chance at the goal in the opening minute, but Prince Deep made a great save and palmed away Marin Van Heel's high shot. The hosts tried to get their footing in the match and created the first chance in the sixth minute of the game.
Manmeet Singh received a brilliant scoop from the left side and directed a high shot towards the goal, which was saved by Belgium goalkeeper Alexis van Havere. The home team secured their first penalty corner in the 10th minute of the match, but Tiwari's shot was kept away by Van Havere.
Belgium scored the first goal of the match in the 13th minute with Cornez-Massant's powerful shot due to poor defending from the home team. The Indian players looked under pressure as they wasted another short corner in the 25th minute.
After the half-time break, the hosts made poor errors as Belgium continued to dominate the match after the change of ends. India tried their best to put pressure on Belgium and penetrated their circle many times, but lacked ideas inside the box.
They got another chance to level the score in the form of their third penalty corner in the 39th minute, but skipper Rohit failed to score. But, he netted India's first goal just 17 seconds from the third quarter to level the score.
Belgium secured four consecutive penalty corners, but Rohit and his team stood tall to keep the match on level terms. They kept mounting the pressure on the home team, but the Indian players did a good job in defending.
The hosts scored the second goal of the match in the 48th minute, when Tiwari netted a powerful low flick to the right of the Belgian goalkeeper, after the Indians got their fifth penalty corner.
But just when it seemed India would secure a narrow victory, Belgium levelled the score when Rogge got a slight touch from a wayward hit from outside the circle as the game went into a shoot-out.
Belgium's goals in the shoot-out were netted by Hugo Labouchere, Guerlain Hawaux and Charles Langendries. For India, Tiwari netted from the spot thrice after fouls, while Ankit Pal also scored.
Prince Deep made brilliant saves in the shoot-out to emerge as the star of the day. He credited the coach and fans for the support as reasons for the win.
"I want to thank the crowd for its support. Whatever I have learnt is from our coach PR Sreejesh," a beaming Prince Deep said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
