Red Sticks earn their first win as India and England play highly entertaining draw on day 3

It was the third consecutive day of FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 action in the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium as teams in Pool D began the second round of matches. 

Spain faced off against Wales in game one, with both teams looking for their first goals and first points of the tournament. Spain are the higher ranked side and proved it as they made the big moments count, scoring twice in the first half and thrice in the second half to take all three points. Marc Reyne and Marc Miralles were on the scoresheet twice for the Red Sticks, with captain Alvaro Iglesias adding a fifth. Wales, playing in just their second ever men’s World Cup game, scored their first ever goal through James Carson, to take some positives from the loss. 

England and India have a recent history of playing tough matches with very little to separate the two teams and that proved to be the case once again as the battle between the two top ranked teams of Pool D ended in a 0-0 draw. Both sides had chances aplenty to score but good defending and lack of composure from attackers in crucial moments kept the score tied and earned the teams a point each. 

 FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela  

15 January 2023 Results

Result: Match 1 

Spain 5-1 Wales

Player of the Match: Marc Miralles (ESP)

Umpires: Ben Goentgen (GER),  Sean Rapaport (RSA), Bruce Bale (ENG-video)

Result: Match 2

England 0-0 India

Player of the Match: Oliver Payne (ENG)

Umpires: Marcin Grochal (POL), Steve Rogers (AUS), Hong-Zhen Lim (SGP-video)