Hockey World Cup: India, England Miss Plenty Of Chances; Play Out Goalless Draw

India played out a goalless draw against England in an entertaining pool match to remain in contention for a direct quarterfinal berth in the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup in Rourkela on Sunday. In an evenly contested Pool D match, both the sides failed to score despite getting ample chances to force a result at the jam-packed Birsa Munda Stadium. England got eight penalty corners as against India's four. But the home team's penalty corners defence was impeccable.

England and India are now on four points each from two matches and who tops the pool and qualify directly for the quarterfinals will be decided on January 19 when India play Wales while England take on Spain, both the matches to be played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

If two teams are on equal points and have won same number of matches, the side which have better goal difference will be ranked higher. England now have a goal difference of plus five after beating Wales 5-0 in their opening match as against plus two of India, who had emerged 2-0 winners against Spain.

It was England who dominated in the first quarter as they got five penalty corners one after the other. But India defended the PCs quite well as Manpreet Singh was the first to rush out and close down the angle. Mandeep Singh won India's first penalty corner towards the end of the first quarter but Manpreet's stop was not the best one, forcing captain Harmanpreet Singh to abort his dragflick.

As soon as the second quarter started, Wallace Zachary's hit from inside the Indian circle came off Krishan Bahadur Pathak high and England got their sixth PC but again wasted it.

England kept on entering the Indian circle and got their seventh penalty corner but first rusher Amit Rohidas was quick enough to