India - Poland   9 : 1 (5:0)

Tuesday, August 7th 2007 - 15:30 in Monchengladbach

Deewakar Ram, the one-man show

India´s corner-taking specialist was by far the most outstanding player in this meeting - he himself was responsible for six goals, and it looks as though after just one day of the tournament that the crown for best goal scorer is already his. But first things first.

With six goals Deewakar Ram (IND) is well in lead of tournament's best scorers © hockeyimage.net
 

Jagwant Singh achieved an early 1:0 lead in the sixth minute and in the time that followed India showed that they were worthy favourites; they tied Poland down in their own half so they were hardly able to cross the centre line, and certainly could not put any pressure on the Indian goal. The first noticeable Polish attack could be seen only in the eighteenth minute. The logical result of the Indian pressure on the Polish defence was a number of short corners. Twice the same manoeuvre - a feint from Kullu and a flat shot down the middle from Ram - led first to 2:0 in the tenth minute and 3:0 after 15 minutes. Poland then came into the game a little more and took shots at the Indian goal, but without success. In counterattack after 22 minutes Ram converted another penalty corner, as the Polish keeper Maciol let a seemingly slow shot glide through his gloves.

India's Goalkeeper Shreejesh (IND) © hockeyimage.net
 

Five minutes later came a repeat of the Kullu and Ram corner - score 5:0 in the 27th minute. After 30 minutes play, the Polish U21s had a number of shots in the circle and also penalty corners, which, however, India's defence safely turned around into attack.

Anand Tirkey (IND) © hockeyimage.net
 

The second half began a lot slower and the Polish U21s took a more active part in the game. After an excellent single run, Poltaszweski passed across to the completely unmarked Dszyjczyk, who easily converted it in the 58th minute to 5:1. In the counterattack, India again had a corner. Kullu stopped, Ram hit flat and centrally. Then came 5 magical minutes from the Indians - combinations of five, six passes: Chandi ran over to the right, slowed down and passed to Cheeyana, 6:1 in the 52nd minute, Mujtaba and J. Singh worked together and passed to Chandi, whose first shot Maciol could just parry away, but Chandi tapped in the rebound for 8:1. In the 62nd minute Ram again scored (flat and central) and then the two teams just played for time in the heavy rain on the soaked pitch.

Poland's Captain Bartosz Zywiczka (POL) © hockeyimage.net
 

India certainly deserved victory in this one-sided game, also because the Polish U21s were individually technically weaker. With a better defence against corners and a spot more luck in attack, the Polish team could certainly have achieved a lower score, especially as all the Indian goals from corners resulted from just two types of move.

Torschützen/Scorers:
07.'   1:0   Singh, J
11.'   2:0   RAM, D (PC)
15.'   3:0   RAM, D (PC)
23.'   4:0   RAM, D (PC)
29.'   5:0   RAM, D (PC)
48.'   5:1   DSZYJCZYK, S
50.'   6:1   RAM, D (PC)
52.'   7:1   Kumar, P
57.'   8:1   Chandi, G
61.'   9:1   RAM, D (PC)


Schiedsrichter/Umpires:
DUTERME, Sébastian (BEL)
Singh Daljit (MAL)

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