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

[ankit1407]

33 years IIRC

[sameerph]

Fantastic result and what an exhilarating second half after we were down 0-2 and looked to be going down badly. Till about 10 mins into second half, we seemed to be playing as ineptly as we did on the SF against Belgium.
But, suddenly our players found some extra energy to pump in 5 goals in about 20 mins Sunil and Ramandeep made some great speedy runs. But, the ones who were really instrumental for this turnaround were Sardara and in particular, Manpreet who had a brilliant game. He was one player who was composed when inside their D and knew what to do. He was involved in getting most of the PC'S which we got today.

In the end, it was silly of Akashdeep to try to go for glory with only 40 sec left and Netherlands found time to get a PC.

Else, the win would have been more sweet coming in regular time Anyway, finally a medal at world level event.

[akmohanty]

logging in after a long time, couldn't resist ...

It was a great comeback indeed! Those 5 goals in the short span were out of the world

Can someone tell me to what extent were the Netherlands fielding their main team or otherwise?

[ssp]

I think we may drop to 7th despite this bronze medal! I say this because Belgium will gain more ranking points with their silver medal and so can leapfrog us. I don't think there are any more ranking tournaments between now and Rio. Well, we are going to struggle to better 4th place in our group at Rio as Holland & Germany will be at full strength (unlike here) and we usually play badly against Belgium. Perhaps we can improve in the 7-8 months, but we need to make some bold selections and drop the dross.

Going back to today's match, Rupinder Pal was very poor in defence and Jasjit really doesn't have the quality. His hurried clearance resulted (wrongly) in a P and the 3rd Dutch goal. The umpire was just plain stupid (and biased) to give that PC. We are always handicapped by this disgraceful nonsense in almost every match.

What a huge difference Sardar made to our attack. I have long felt that if we had 3 players of similar ability to the Dutch/ German/ Australian/ Argentinian forwards, we would win more PCs and create may more circle penetrations and keep possession way better than now. Our defence would also play much better because they wouldn't be under as much pressure as usual.

What the hell was Akashdeep doing with 25 secs remaining. Total madness to give the ball away and then Rupinder gives away the PC! This kind of collective lunacy makes my blood boil.

Gautum; would you now agree with dropping Akashdeep? He can come back once he has worked on his glaring weaknesses. He scored one goal, missed several half chances and created precious little.

Talwinder scored one goal but was very poor otherwise. I'd also drop both sloths and try Harmanpreet and Gurjinder at the Azlan Shah tournament.That leaves Jasjit, Danish and Chinglensana to be replaced!! 3rd place with so many poor performers is way better than I expected.

[Saniapower]

We were up 5-3 with 3 mins to go but managed to concede 2/ goals and we are 5-5..
Feel like hitting some of our guys including Akashdeep who with 30 sec to go gave away a easy ball

Same old story. Shame.

[PKBasu]

Delighted we won a bronze medal in a world hockey tournament -- our first podium finish in a genuine world-level FIH-backed event since 1975 (when we won the World Cup on a turf/grass field in Malaysia). The other medal, a silver, was in 1982 at a tournament in Australia that had all the world's best teams, but was not a scheduled FIH event (I think it was sponsored by Esanda), and in 1982 we also won a bronze in the Champions Trophy. (Others will point to the Olympic gold in 1980, but that was helped by the absence of Pakistan, Germany and Australia).

Of course, we had some advantage in that this was a home tournament. But we should have beaten the Belgians and reached the final. Beating Holland -- even if it is off a penalty shoot-out -- is very pleasing indeed. I will never forget the 1973 World Cup final, which we lost 2-4 on penalties to Holland (on their home soil) after it had ended 2-2 in extra time. It took 42 years, but a slight measure of revenge!

[sameerph]

I agree with SSP that Raghunath, Rupinder, Talwinder, Danish, Jasjit , Akashdeep and Chingalseena have been poor performers in this team. It is good if we can get all 7 replaced before Rio. But, I know Raghunath, Rupinder will not get dropped.

Couple of decent performers in the forward line - Nikin Thimmaiah and Lalit Upadhyay were injured here. Brining them back would strengthen our team and I hope Gurbaz is brought back to the team.

If we can get a couple more from junior team, the team will be much better and we may have a realistic chance of a SF at Rio.

[ssp]

Sameer; yes, Raghunath and Rupinder won't be dropped. Nor will Akashdeep, Chinglensana & Jasjit.

Danish will be replaced by Uthappa (marginal improvement), Talwinder by Nikkin (big improvement) & Amir by Lalit (unsure about this switch, because both are good players). I'd have both in and Akasdeep out!

We have to hope that some of the younger talents have outstanding performances in the forthcoming HIL 2016 and force their way into the team in time for Rio. I'm happy to see some of the older guys given a chance as well. I'm thinking of Vikram Kanth, Vinaya, Roshan Minz etc. I'm sure these players can do a better job than some of the weaklings that let us down in every single match.

The one player that we badly need is Gurbaj. HI are unlikely to relent in their vendetta against him, so I fear we have seen the last of this great player

I'd have this team:
Keepers Sreejesh + Harjot
Defenders: Harmanpreet, Birendra, Kothajit, Gurbaj, Gurinder & Gurjinder
Midfield: Sardar, Manpreet, Devendar Walmiki, Dharamvir,Harjeet
Forwards: Sunil, Nikkin, Ramandeep, Amir, Lalit

[jayakris]

Congratulations INDIA!!! Finally we get a real medal in a real world event in hockey. Wow. Jay

[Qualia11]

All said and they must keep in mind that the format got them lucky.But then again we have Australia which won gold.

[Saniapower]

Congratulations INDIA!!! Finally we get a real medal in a real world event in hockey. Wow. Jay

WOW

[arjun2761]

Fantastic result by India to win a bronze!

Barring the first game against Argentina, we were competitive in all the other matches. Hopefully, this momentum is carried forward to next year. Inducting new, younger players to compete against the under performers (which seem to be quite few) will be keep everyone on their toes and likely improve the quality of the team either with the newer players winning some spots or inspiring the under performers to up their game.

[gautam]

India's performance against Netherlands was a mixed one, with only our mid-field and to some extent our forward line functioning effectively. I agree with everyone's comments regarding our pathetic performance of our forwards (including Akashdeep) but other than Harmanpreet, I don't see any other player who could make it to the team. Nikkin and Lalit are good players but unfortunately like our other forwards they too are inexperienced at the international level however we could try out these players in upcoming tournaments. India requires someone like Dhanraj Pillay or Bajit Dhillon who can make those half-chances count which could make all the difference. Unfortunately, there are no FIH tournaments before the Olympics which is bizarre as it should be the other way around.

In the three matches which India played well, Sardara and Manpreet played more as an attacking mid-fielder which made all the difference. In such a situation, though India is effective in it's attack but this leaves the mid-field and defense vulnerable (proving that our defense is not up to the international standard). Hence, this is where we require Gurbaj, with his experience he would be able to marshal the mid-field. I wasn't too impressed with Dharmvir either as he was pretty much silent in most the matches and was predictable with his runs. I would prefer Danish in the mid-field as I think he was far more impressive than the other players.

Our defense has always been the topic of discussion. One selection which continues to baffle me was that of Jasjit, he was primarily in the team for his drag-flicking skills however he wasn't made use of during the whole tournament. Hence, I would drop Jasjit and get Gurjinder immediately. As far as Raghu and Rupinder are concerned, I too am unimpressed with their performance however I shall still retain them due their experience. Personally, I feel that defense should be tinkered too much as experience would really count in Olympics and none of the new players would be able to adjust to the high-pressure game (unfortunately our players are not mentally strong as their counter parts)

[PKBasu]

Congratulations INDIA!!! Finally we get a real medal in a real world event in hockey. Wow. Jay

It has to be a big deal when Jay comes out of hibernation . We miss you Jay!

[PKBasu]

The format was known to all -- and the first stage was really a practice period (since nobody would be eliminated). We did superbly to beat Britain (who topped their pool) in the QF, shouldn't have lost to Belgium in the SF, but again did very well to draw 5-5 with Holland and then beat them in the penalty shoot-out. A thoroughly well-deserved bronze medal.