Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey: India eyes big win against Poland

With three wins and a draw, India is currently leading the six-team league table, with 10 points and a goal difference of +8. Just like five-time champion India, Korea too has secured its place in Saturday’s summit clash, with 10 points but it has an inferior goal difference (+5) compared to the Indians.

The last round league matches, thus, have become inconsequential for all the teams but both India and Korea would aim to keep their winning momentum intact. Against Poland, ranked 21st in the world, an easy match is on the cards for world number 5 India.

The Indians have had a pretty good outing in the tournament so far, barring one match. India defeated Japan 2-0 before getting the better of host Malaysia 4-2 and Canada 7-3. The only blip for the Manpreet Singh-led side was the 1-1 draw against Korea.

Come Friday, the Indians would be eyeing to test their attacking combinations ahead of the big final. Mandeep Singh has been a live wire upfront, but he needs more support from the other strikers. That is precisely what the Indian think-tank would be hoping to achieve against Poland.

Besides Mandeep, Varun Kumar has been impressive with penalty corner conversions and he would like to continue in the same vein in the remainder of the matches. “We are not going to take it lightly against Poland. We are determined to keep performing to the best of our abilities. We want to win our remaining two games with good performances,” said Mandeep.

“I feel Friday’s match against Poland will give us a chance to prepare well for the final,” added the 24-year-old striker. After a slow start, the Indians have showed progress in every match, with improved structure and discipline.

Poland is still winless in the competition and it would at least look for a consolation point. But it will be a herculean task to achieve that against a team like India. Poland was hammered 1-5 by Malaysia, 0-4 by Canada and 0-3 by Japan. Korea is the only team which had to fight tooth and nail to get the better of Poland, by a scoreline of 3-2.

In other inconsequential matches on Friday, Korea will take on Japan while Malaysia will finish off its campaign against Canada.