India play out goalless draw against England

Rourkela: 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 here 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.