Asian Games Hockey

[ankit1407]

Yes Gold baby Gold....

[PKBasu]

GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4-2 in the penalties!!

[suresh]

Wimpy me switched off the TV after Pakistan scored its first goal. No stomach for the tension! Now I can enjoy the win.

[PKBasu]

Thank you Terry Walsh and Sreejesh! Let's go for gold in Rio now!!!

[ssp]

Yessss. At last!
Walsh stays on and we are in the Olympics. Feels great.
Can someone report on how we played? Seems like we were the better team but didn't have the final finish

[suresh]

Can someone report on how we played?

Now I know why we won.

[ssp]

Yes Suresh, we won because of my absence.

[sameerph]

Can someone report on how we played? Seems like we were the better team but didn't have the final finish

Yes, we were the better team but not by a long way as in the fourth quarter Pakistan did attack a bit. There were a couple of silly mistakes in defence and glad that we did not concede the usual last minute goal. On one of such errors, Sardara quickly got back and made a decisive tackle. Our finishing is something which needs to be a lot better as there were at least 2-3 open chances which we missed.
Overall, I think we played much better in CWG than here.
In the penalty shoot out , Sreejesh was outstanding.
All our players took their shots with confidence. Only Manpreet missed and that looked like a controversial decision as goalie seemed to have fouled him. ( remember this played in new method and not the old ones of penalty strokes.)

[jayakris]

YES... An Asiad gold, finally. Beating Pakistan when it counted!! Go India
Take a bow, Terry Walsh and team. So glad that the coach will stay. Only up and up from now on.

[ssp]

Thanks Sameer.
I feel, Pakistan exceeded expectations and we were (slightly) below our CWG levels. The stats show poor PC conversions and lots of missed chances, but possession/ shots on goal/ PCs earned were all good in comparison to our usual standards.
This win should give us useful ranking points and move us ahead of Korea to 8th. Don't think we can overhaul Argentina or NZ after their continental championships are done, but we should certainly be closer to the South Americans.

http://www.fih.ch/files/Sport/World%20R ... 20note.pdf

The country that has been heavily favoured is NZL. The qualification to WCs and Olympics is guaranteed even if they get thrashed by Australia and then their continental championships give equal ranking points to the European and Asian tournaments, even though there are only TWO 'proper' teams in the field. Ridiculous.

[ssp]

Next up is the Champions Trophy in December. Would really like to avoid Australia in the QFs there. That means finishing 2nd or 3rd in the group stages. We will need one win (most likely against Argentina) to achieve this and then hope to meet England or Pakistan in the QF. A semi final placing in that tournament will be great. Germany usually sends out an experimental team to the CT, so that may help our cause in the group stages.

I hope Walsh now discards the non performers and brings in new blood. Let's hope the upcoming Sultan Johor Cup unearths some good prospects.

[PKBasu]

I think this is a real turning point for our hockey. No matter what the official rankings say, we have shown this year (CWG and here) that we are back in the top 6, and the Champions Trophy at home will give us an opportunity to try and finish in the top 4. If we do , we'll be contending credibly for a medal at Rio. Our focus now has to relentlessly be on the semifinal at Rio!!

[kujo]

Holy FREAKING Moly! Asian games gold in hockey and a direct entry for Rio Olympics!!

DO NOT change the coach - we have a winner here.....

[kujo]

Holy FREAKING Moly! Asian games gold in hockey and a direct entry for Rio Olympics!!

DO NOT change the coach - we have a winner here.....

[gbelday]

You can say that agai, kujo!! Way too exciting!