On Saturday, a sea of orange is expected to fill the stands at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands. But these will be home supporters backing the reigning Olympic champions, not Indian fans rallying behind the new saffron jersey.Harmanpreet Singh and his men, who will wear white jerseys for the match, will have to bring their ‘A’ game and settle for nothing less than a win.The equation is simple. In four-team Pool E, England and the Netherlands have carried forward three points from their opening league-phase wins over India and Argentina, respectively. The top two teams from Pools E and F will advance to the semi-finals. For India to wipe out the three-point advantage enjoyed by the pool leaders, they must beat the Netherlands on Saturday and Argentina on Monday. There is no room for error.India have two wins and a loss, while the co-hosts have enjoyed an impressive campaign so far, beating New Zealand 5-1, Argentina 3-1 and Japan 4-1.Inconsistency has been one of India’s biggest drawbacks. They have often gone from a position of strength to fighting for survival. Against Pakistan, despite taking a 3-0 lead, India allowed a side that could hardly match them for skill and fitness to claw back and score three goals.Craig Fulton’s men will also have to be wary of cards, as playing a man down against the Netherlands could prove costly. In three league outings, India have picked up four green cards and a yellow.Under pressure, the defence has also gone astray in the last two matches, conceding penalty corners that they can ill afford to give away. Among the top eight teams, India have conceded the most goals, eight.Up front, Mandeep Singh and Sukhjeet Singh will need to be more decisive and avoid holding on to the ball for too long.India can, however, draw confidence from Abhishek, who has been one of their standout performers. The youngster, along with Dilpreet Singh and Shilanand Lakra, has helped India create circle penetrations. The challenge now is to convert those opportunities into goals.After the win over Pakistan, Harmanpreet admitted that India had paid the price for their mistakes. “Pakistan took advantage of our mistakes and scored. It is a lesson for us that if we win the ball in our half, we have to clear and don’t take too many risks in the centre. There are teams which finish very well on the counter,” he said.The previous two meetings between the sides in the FIH Pro League were closely fought, with each team winning 3-2. On Saturday, however, another tight contest could leave India with little room to recover.
