Bruised India look to avoid hat-trick of losses

A semifinal spot virtually out of their grasp after back-to-back defeats, India brace up for another tough battle when they take on a European champions England in their next pool B match of the hockey World Cup here tomorrow.

India's dream of progressing to the last-four stage of the mega-event in front of home fans received a rude shock yesterday when Spain demolished them 2-5 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

The euphoria of the 4-1 win over Pakistan has all but settled after Australia and last night Spain gave the home team a reality check.

u00a0Even though Jose Brasa has introduced the Indians to the European style of hockey, the games against Australia and Spain has showed that India still have a long way to go when it comes to matching the European teams on the turf.

And England is no different and are probably playing the their best hockey in this tournament, remaining unbeaten so far in their three matches.One of their wins came against hot favourites Australia.

In the last two matches against Australia and Spain, India were outwitted by their opponents in pace and fitness and the hosts can expect a similar challenge from the Englishmen. Brasa has the tough task of sorting out the poor Indian defence.

If the game against Australia was not a lesson, Spain brought out the demons in the backline, which made numerous silly errors to concede soft goals.

On more than one occasion, Sandeep Singh and Dhananjay Mahadik were guilty of giving away the ball to the Spaniards, two of which resulted in goals. To add to that, man-to-man marking was absent from India's game in the last two matches, leaving rival players unmarked inside the circle. And if they continue to repeat the same mistakes, the Englishmen would capitalise rather easily.

"There were some mistakes we made. We have to improve our defence. We have to look for other weapons to tackle the opponents, as these are the best players we have. We gave away some gift goals to Spain and that happens only in a childish match," Brasa had said.

Meanwhile in other matches of Pool B tomorrow, Pakistan, in a similar situation like India with one win out of three games, face a lowly South Africa in a must-win encounter if they desire to keep their hopes alive in the tournament.

However, it is the match between Australia and Spain which both India and Pakistan will be eagerly looking towards as the outcome of that encounter might eventually seal their fate in the 12th edition of the tournament.