Bhubaneswar A victory over the Netherlands after 28 years in the champions Trophy is extra special. And though a quarter-final win over Belgium should not count as unexpected, it will be an achievement for India on current form.
The absence of Terry Walsh showing in the two defeats against Germany and Argentina, India reminded to not consider them as pushovers with a 3-2 win over the Dutch in their final pool match of the FIH Men's Champions Trophy here.
But the Red Army of the Belgians, with a win and two draws, is undefeated in the tournament so far. And the most improved team in the world today will prove a tough nut to crack for India in the quarter-final on Thursday.
India finished third in Pool B and Belgium second in Pool A, which is how the Indo-European meeting in the last-eight stage took shape here in the Temple City of India.
The hosts appeared a far improved side against the Netherlands compared to what they displayed against the Germans and the Argentines. Sardar played out of his skin in the final league game and the Indian forwards got their act together to tell the Belgians not to expect an easy game in the quarters.
India last met Belgium in the World Cup at The Hague in Netherlands, where they suffered a narrow defeat against the men in red shirts, and Sardar Singh would hope that his team doesn't repeat those mistakes on Thursday.
"The win over Netherlands was a much needed boost," captain Sardar said ahead of the game. "We have learned our lessons and hope to use those to good effect in the game against Belgium, like we did against the Dutch."
In their 3-2 win over Netherlands, India, like their bad old habit, India lived dangerously in the last few minutes, but after that game team's coach and Hockey India's High Performance Direct Roelant Oltmans said the team has learned from its mistakes. "The team is evolving into a better unit, and it showed against Netherlands. We will put our best foot forward to book a place in the semis," the former Dutch coach said.
The crowd here at the Kalinga Stadium has been arriving in numbers to support the home team, and that's once again going to play the role of the 12th man against Belgium, who, like India, are searching for their maiden Champions Trophy gold.
But India will hope their forwards Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh.Nikkin Thimmaiah and SV Sunil to not go even half-chances go waste or at least create penalty corners for the lines of Rupinderpal Singh, Gurjinder Singh and VR Raghunath to come into play.
The match begins 1930 IST.
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