Hockey at Rio Olympics

[sameerph]

No. Most likely it will be Belgium. But, it can be Spain or Australia too depending upon result of GBR-Spain, Argentina-Ireland matches coming up.

[PKBasu]

Germany beat Holland 2-1 to comfortably top the pool.
Argentina-Ireland 3 hours from now.

[ssp]

Spain have finished 2nd and so will play either Argentina or India. I suspect Argentina will beat Ireland easily so will take over 3rd in our group. As I said earlier, if we play the lazy, scrappy hockey of today, we have no chance of progressing against any of the QF opponents. I felt we had a good game plan after watching the Germany, Holland and (3/4 of) the Argentina games, but I am not so sure now. If Sunil is out for the remainder of this tournament, then our attack is going to be even more pathetic than usual.

I don't think playing Sardar upfront is working too well. He doesn't have the pace and seems a bit hesitant. I'd drop him in the back line (as Brasa did) and remove Raghunath from there. At least Sardar and play those long passes more accurately and he can tackle cleanly. I'd move Uthappa into attack as his habit of losing the ball there will make little difference (Akashdeep and co have been doing this for years!).

Looks like GB are going to miss out of the QFs! NZ 2-0 up v Belgium with 4th quarter remaining. Maybe Belgium are taking it easy, but NZ are looking good. All of these teams make so few mistakes in passing and trapping. Helps enormously to control the game if all your players have the basics sorted out.

3-0 to NZL now. Wow, what's happened to Belgium? Peaked too soon? They looked fantastic in their first 4 matches, but look ordinary today. Or NZL have looked brilliant in the last 2 quarters.

[Sin Hombre]

Argentina beat Ireland 3-2 and get the 3rd spot ahead of us and book a clash with Spain.

We instead have to play Belgium and the winner plays the winner of Netherlands / Australia.

@ssp do we have any realistic chance against Belgium. I was going to put Spain as a 50/50 so Belgium is more of a 20/80? We could not even beat in our good run at the CT.

[PKBasu]

We need two miracles in order to win a medal. First, hope that a demoralized Belgium will continue the loss of momentum evident in their 0-3 loss to NZ, and we somehow play our best hockey in the QF. Then we overcome our fear of Australia and defeat them when it counts (and they choke) in the SF. After that...

[ssp]

@ssp do we have any realistic chance against Belgium. I was going to put Spain as a 50/50 so Belgium is more of a 20/80? We could not even beat in our good run at the CT.

20/80 is about right v Belgium. 0/100 v Australia. Yes 50/50 v Spain, so that cr*p result v. Canada is going to hurt us. There cold be a nasty fall out as a result of a QF exit with HI going for a new coach, but keeping the same stupid selectors. I already feel we have thrown away our best chance of a medal for decades.

Nikkin is the biggest reason for this situation. Shocking misses and that absolutely crazy tackle

Even when we were dominating and missing chances, I knew we would concede at least a couple of goals against Canada. Our players just looked in that crazy 'Indian mode' I have seen for decades. I just knew there would be lunatic tackles and cards when there was no need to panic. Unforced errors all over the pitch and several players performing well below their best. Sreejesh could have saved both PCs and at the other end we should have put away 2-3 of the clear cut chances, so a game we should have won by 3-4 goals ends up as a draw.

I expect Belgium to step up to their best and so we must not let the Canada game affect us.

[Rajiv]

Haven't followed Hockey in the past decade , so for me Belgium is the team of the Rene Frank era where a Indian victory against Belgium was guaranteed some times even with a 6-0 scoreline , Plus there will be pressure on both the teams as it is crucial QF match and if they play like they did against Germany and Netherlands it wont be a surprise if we manage to pull this through.

[srini]

and if they play like they did against Germany and Netherlands it wont be a surprise if we manage to pull this through.

And if they play like they did against Canada ?? Canada is more known for its Ice hockey than its field hockey...i am sure most of its team members must be professional Ice hockey players, taking field hockey as a hobby sport

[sameerph]

It seemed like initially we did take it lightly in the first half and once we realised that Canada is not folding up, they could not raise their game.

If we play like this against Belgium, no chance. But, if we play like we played Germany , Netherlands and Argentina, we have a chance more than 20% I think. After all Belgium are not a lot better than Germany or Netherlands ( whom we ran very close). Is it ?

But, against Spain I would have counted us as favourites. We lost to them in test series there but that in different conditions. Here in warm up before Olympics, we beat them.

So, golden chance to at least enter SF squandered by 1 bad match against Canada. We have not been in SF of a Olympics or world cup since 1980. So, even that would be an achievement even if medal does not come.

[arjun2761]

Not sure that 1980 Olympic counts much as most of the top Western countries boycotted those games...

[ssp]

The way our athletes are performing in Rio, I'm fearing the worst day of all on Sunday when several crucial matches are scheduled

Even if we play to our best ability we lose matches because our composure under pressure and general decision making is woeful. How many times do we concede within 1-2 mins of taking the lead? How many times do we concede in the last 5 mins of a crucial game. How many times do we make crazy tackles near our D to gift PCs? How many times do we pick up absolutely stupid green and yellow cards? Then we have to contend with biased umpires. Really too many things stacked against us.

[Kumar]

Hope springs eternal! I am going to go on a limb and predict easy win tmw!

[jayakris]

We need the hockey team to win and tennis MxD to get a bronze tomorrow. Today was just too hard for me to take.

[PKBasu]

Canada was an aberration; we were stupidly complacent and a bit fatigued from so many matches in succession.

With our batteries recharged, we will play like the tigers we saw in the Champions Trophy final, and India will win. Come on!!!

[Sin Hombre]

Final nail in the coffin has just started.