Harpal Singh Bedi / Bhubaneswar
Despite dominating the proceedings for most of the time, highly fancied Belgium made heavy weather of their 2-1 win over Canada in their opening pool C match of the 14th Hockey World Cup at Kalinga Stadium In Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
Belgium failed to convert any of the eight penalty corners, that came their way , besides missing chances galore. Canada after being under pressure for considerable period, gave a run for their money to Olympic silver medallist
Canada opened the game with a incisive move in the very first minute which caught the Belgium defenders off guard who however managed to foil it. However this cheeky offensive infuriated the Red Lions who launched a furious counter attack forcing the rivals to fall back to defend their goal.
Belgium forwards tore apart the Canadian defence with a fierce assault but their strikers missed a good chance to take the lead however that reprieve was short lived as in the 3rd minute forward Felix Denayer intercepted a cross near the circle and send the ball home to give the Olympic Silver medallists lead (1-0).
Buoyed by this early lead Belgium forwards unleashed flurry of attacks from both the flanks and in the middle their midfielders captured the space making it tough for the Canadians to launch counter attacks.
With no resistance in the middle, Red Lions roamed freely putting tremendous pressure on the rival defence which collapsed once again in the 12 minute but the goal was disallowed after Canadian challenged it and asked for the review. Their protest was upheld as the review showed ball hitting Belgium forwards hand before going into the goal.
In the second quarter, the Red lions kept the pressure on and earned their first penalty corner which was muffed . The repeated attacks final paid off as the Canadian defence collapse when Belgium captain Thomas Briels latched on to a pass and with a sizzling shot sent the ball into the cave (2-0).This happened in the 22nd minute.
Down 0-2 Canadians tried to come out off the defensive and made few good moves but their strikers turned out to be the poor marksmen.
The third quarter belonged to Belgium , they totally dominated the 15 minutes, forced three penalty but could not convert them. They also missed several chances as they failed to make use of the chances that came their way.
The failure to take advantage of the chances does not argue well for the Red Lions who fancy themselves as a contender for the title. 11th ranked Canada did have some share of attacks but they never looked threatening as the Belgium defenders easily disposed them off.
A minute into the last quarter, two more penalty corners but could convert them.Suddenly against the run of play, Canadians countered and too the surprise of all, strong Belgium defence became jittery.
The Canadian seized the opportunity and the chance and increased the pressure forcing two penalty corners in quick succession and off the second which came in the 48th minute Mark Pearson converted to reduce the margin (2-1).
The goal rattled the Red lions and their coach Shane McLeod, And being looking invincible till the 46th minute Belgium looked highly beatable.
The Canadians went flat out and Belgium defence had tough time to foil them .The Red Lions regrouped themselves in the dying moments of the game forcing two more penalty but failed to convert them.
Though Belgium won but the Canadians in the last quarter showed that Red Lions can be beaten and that is a good news for India as they are in same pool.