Champions trophy Hockey 2014, Bhubaneswar- Dec. 6-14

[srini]

Germany makes it to final with a 3-2 win over Aussies

[sameerph]

India lead 1-0 after first quarter. Goal by Gurjinder of PC.

Gurbaj is off the field though with a yellow card for 10 mins. So, India will have to play with 10 men for next 9 mins.

[srini]

India lead 1-0 by end of Q1. Pak got a penality corner at the end of Q1 in which they tried a variation by passing the ball to a player who tried to deflect into goal which didn't work.India are playing short of one player for 10 mins who got yellow card.Pak utilize it and they have a goal.1-1 now.And they nearly miss another sitter. poor defending from india.Now its Pak player who intentionally pushes an indian at the end of Q2 and gets yellow card which means india will hold advantage for next 10 min after 1st half.Notwithstanding the one man shortage, Pak strike a goal.2-1 for Pak.Pak down to 9 players now for next 2 mins as they got one Green and one yellow card.Sarder also sits out for 2 mins for a Green card but we equalize.Excellent stick skills.One thing we we have to commend about the Pak coach, he has loads of corner variations.Pak score of one now3-2 for pak.We equalize AGAIN off a deflection.3-3 now.Just 2 more mins now..who ever gets a goal opposition hardly has anytime left to equalize again!Pak strike with justa minute left.4-3 for pak .Pak into final

[sameerph]

It remains 1-1 at halftime. But, now Pakistan is down to 10 men for first 8 mins or so in second half. We must take advantage of that.

[ankit1407]

Sure enough we concede another last minute goal, we must have missed 5 to 7 chances where either the last guy could not stop or was wayward...defense was shameless to say the least...
Quite a lot of guys are just too painful to watch (Raghunath, Ramandeep, Akashdeep to name few)

[ssp]

Disastrous end. Really terrible end. This was a fantastic chance to actually win the whole thing because Germany are beatable.
We will finish 4th now....dreadful feeling. Pathetic defence and rubbish finishing. Just can't string together 3 good matches.
Bring back Walsh ...please. Maybe we can control the last 2-3 mins of matches with him

[ankit1407]

At 3-3 we had so many chances to score couple of times and shut the door on Pakistan, what we do is sAMe as always..(mess up our chances and concede in last min)

[sameerph]

Yes, poor match by us after such a good one against a stronger team, Belgium. Very poor defending and we were giving tons of space to the Pakistani forwards. Now, against Australia for the bronze medal.

Some of the Pakistani player's behavior after the match was disgraceful. They took their shirts off and gestured for crowd to keep quite.

[srini]

Results are going to be roller coaster until next one year by the time all top teams will adapt to the new rules with quality coaches and then we may again see results consistent with rankings.Until then, we may well expect the Dhanraj pillays making noise that Pak could win champions trophy with a former olympian and why not us thingy.
No matter how the results turn out, one thing for sure these new format hockey matches are a lot more exciting than the older format.I hate soccer matches which go on for 80 min and finish in a goal less draw.The aerial tackles above shoulder length which are now legal look exciting. But i am concerned about the safety aspect of these new rule changes. Just take a look at how dangerously india counter attacked after conceding the penality corner and made their 4th goal against Belgium.The poor Belgian guy who was stopping the ball for the striker can be seen covering his head when indian defenders were dangerously pushing the ball towards belgian half.Even after the ball passed him, he was just standing there stunned.Link for highlights below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfq99DmdBg4

[Qualia11]

Quite annoying to see Pakistan go to finals

It hurts after you try to develop infrastructure for hockey in the country, have some of the best technical expertise , have great international exposure and lose to a team that has none of these things and lose just because they are your arch rivals

It seems like India can beat world no1,2,3,4 but cannot beat these people.

I wanted India to thrash them the moment Pakistan coach said he would use "9-11" strategy against India but it wasn't to be

Interestingly the teams that have finished in the bottom of their group are in the final


I hope Germany thrashes them in the final

[sameerph]

Quite annoying to see Pakistan go to finals

True, specially after how there players behaved after the match. FIH decided not to take any action on the same.

This is latest reaction from Batra on the incident where he is saying that -

Pakistan must apologise for misbehaving, FIH's inaction unacceptable: Narinder Batra

[Saniapower]

Germany will beat Pak & Aussies Us.

[Qualia11]

This is latest reaction from Batra on the incident where he is saying that -

Yeah,now it seems he is cutting sporting ties with Pakistan and has even threatened not to host international tournaments in future

I think he is trying to make an issue out of this.

I was hoping that the media will make an issue but this guy has done it.I'm not very sure what he is doing will help India

[krinix]

Pakistan team had a wonderful opportunity to make amends after the Victory. They could have risen above petty politics and hate, instead chose the negative approach.
If they had may be celebrated and went around clapping hands and acknowledging the crowd, the emotional fools that we are, would have been rooting for Pakistan to win this today.
The crowd with no fault of theirs were supporting the home team, and you never attack the crowd.

The brainwashing In pakistan about India being enemy, starting young, is no differenrt from the Saffron terror inciting communal divide today.
Really sad affairs. This was a sport, a game and winning and loosing is part of this.

Lets not divide the bridge further by refusing to play them. I guess the Coach has sent in a written apology. Lets move on.

[ssp]

Expected loss to Australia. Only surprised it was only 2-1.
2 wins and 4 losses. Standard performance. It is only the idiotic format that got us 4th, but we have probably regressed without Walsh.
Germany will beat Pakistan.