India got a narrow win against Wales and finished second behind England in Pool D, so they will have to face another test to make it to the quarterfinals.
The Indian hockey team defeated Wales 4-2 in their last group stage match. After this win, both India and England have 7 points each in Pool D but are ahead of India in the first place. According to the rules, 2-2 teams from each pool will go to the quarter-finals, in which the first-placed team will get direct qualification, but the second-placed team will have to play a cross-over match with the third-placed team. That is, to make it to the quarterfinals, the Indian team will have to face New Zealand, the third number team of Pool C.
The Indian team needed to win against Wales by a margin of at least seven goals to make it to the quarterfinals of the Hockey World Cup. Only after winning with such a big margin, she could have got a direct entry in the quarterfinals but she could not reach even near it. The Indian team could score only four goals in the entire match. Before the start of this match, India had 2 goals in the World Cup while England had scored 9 goals. India won the match 4–2 and managed to reduce the goal difference to 9–4, which was not enough to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Actually, according to the rules, only the top team from each pool can get direct qualification in the quarterfinals ie knockout stage. On this basis, the England team, which finished first in Pool D, got the last eight ticket and India got the responsibility of giving another test to prove their worth.
According to the World Cup rules, the number two team in the pool has to play a crossover match with the number three team of the other pool to reach the last eight. Now India will have to beat New Zealand to seal their place in the quarterfinals of the tournament. In Pool C, New Zealand have registered just one win against Chile in the group stage, while suffering defeats at the hands of Malaysia and the Netherlands.
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