The 6th match of the Hockey World Cup 2018 will be contested between England and China. Hockey fans worldwide witnessed some great action from the matches of teams in Pool C and Pool A. Now, it is time for the Pool B teams to get in some action. Only the top team in each group will go through directly to the quarter-finals and the 2nd and 3rd placed teams will have to play the crossover matches.
England have been placed in a tough group alongside Australia, Ireland, and China. They will be playing their first match of the tournament against the Chinese team. The World number 7 ranked England should not have much of a threat from China, who are 17th in the World as per the FIH rankings. The Kim Sang-Ryul-coached unit will be looking to impress critics and pull off some upsets in what is their first appearance at the Hockey World Cup.
England, on the other hand, were impressive in both the 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup. They ended up finishing 4th on both the occasions and will be rearing to take it a step further this time around. The best-ever finish of the English team was back in 1986 when they were the runners-up and won the silver medal.
The most recent medal won by the Men in White was at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where they bagged the bronze after defeating India 2-1. The Danny Kerry-coached unit also began the year on a high as they won the silver at the 2018 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia on March 2. England finished ahead of higher-ranked opponents India as well as hockey powerhouse Argentina.
The team will be high on confidence and will look to continue their good form by finishing on the podium in Bhubaneswar. Their midfielder Barry Middleton will be making his 4th appearance in the prestigious event and will look to help his team to glory.
Adam Dixon is another experienced campaigner at the back and has over 200 national caps to his name. The English custodian George Pinner is in sublime form and was the winner of the Best Goalkeeper Award at the 2018 Azlan Shah Cup for his laser-fast reflexes and game-changing performances. Ian Sloan and Harry Martin will be the other players to watch out for in the English side. It will be interesting to see if the Chinese team has the firepower to pose a threat to England.
Here is all you need to know about the upcoming match between England and China:
Event: Men's Hockey World Cup 2018
Venue: Bhubaneswar, India
Date: 30 November 2018
Time: 7:00 pm Indian Standard Time (IST)
Telecast:
India: Star Sports, Star Sports HD
UK: BT Sport
Australia: Fox Sports
Spain: Eurosport
New Zealand: Sky Sports (NZ)
Argentina: ESPN
South Africa: SuperSport
Live Streaming: Hotstar, FIH Official Youtube Channel
Live Updates: Sportskeeda
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