Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

A forum to discuss Indian hockey and the disarray it is in despite the promising new professional PHL series.

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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

Still 1-1 after Q3. Our moves do not look so well co-ordinated and we missed couple of good chances to create some great moves due to mis trapping by Mandeep/Akashdeep. Commentators are saying that Australia have brought in an inexperienced team. And that is why they are not looking as good as they usually do and we are holding on here.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

It ends in a 1-1 draw. We had lot of circle penetrations in Q4 but never looked like scoring really. Overall a good result considering how we have fared against Aussies but I think against his Australian team we should have won.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by jayakris »

Looks like we have not regressed much, and the change of coach has not caused any immediate disaster. I'm not buying the dude yet. He'll have to show that we improve under him.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by ssp »

This is a very encouraging result.
Australia are rebuilding after their poor showing in Rio, but this is their strongest team (barring a couple of injuries), so a draw is fine for us. Usually we are overwhelmed by an Aussie team, but today we were pretty good on the stats, except for PCs which were 6-4 in Australia's favour.
Let's hope for more performances like this.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by arjun2761 »

Any tie with a first string Australia side (even if in rebuilding mode) is a good result for India even in home conditions. Hopefully, we can come up with a top 4 finish here.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by ssp »

Back to normal service with a 3-2 loss to England. Errors at the back and sloppy play and late goal conceded. I think we will finish bottom of the pool and run into Belgium in the QF.
They will be too good for us.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

Australia draws with England 2-2. Australia ends up with 3 draws in 3 matches which is perhaps the weakest set of results we have seen from an Australian team in a while.

But, that result also means it is a must win match for us against Germany which starts shortly if we want to avoid last place in the pool.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

0-0 after Q1. Even match so far. No real chances for either team.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

Germany take a lead immediately after the start off a PC.

And we are down 0-2 after 20 mins. :-(

Remains 0-2 at half time. We got a few chances in last few minutes including a PC but German defence us strong.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by ssp »

2-0 still with 5 mins left
Never really expected us to get a result against Germany. We will play Belgium in the QF and going by the form shown so fay, we have almost no chance.
Germany have held possession much better than us and it's no surprise to be losing this one.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by jayakris »

In other words, so far it looks like we may have "kinda regressed" under the new coach? (I can't watch these matches, so I have no idea).
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by jaydeep »

Really poor results in last two matches ... Not expecting any miracle against Belgium.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by ssp »

Not sure if we have regressed. I think we are at the same level as Oltmans' teams, but we simply haven't got quality forwards and our inconsistency is maddening. Defending was great against Australia but in the very next game, we dropped our intensity and unforced errors were happening all over the pitch.

We are carrying Mandeep, Akashdeep and Uthappa and there isn't any real creativity in midfield apart from Manpreet. Even the best coach can't get these defects sorted out.

Our PCs are poor too. Direct flicks are generally too straight or the first runners block the shot. No variations are tried.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by ssp »

Belgium are looking the best team in this tournament so far. They dominated Argentina, thrashed Spain 5-0 and are now leading the Dutch 2-0.
In the QF, we don't stand much of a chance unless they have a poor day and we somehow play brilliantly. The Dutch have bought a few youngsters, which explains their results so far.
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Re: Hockey World League (Men's and Women's)

Post by sameerph »

It is 0-0 at half time against Belgium.

We had less possession but more circle penatrations and shots at goals than Belgium. Missed 2 penalty corners too. We are playing better than last 2 matches but must take our chances because Belgium can get back and score 1-2 goals anytime.
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