Valancia Six Nation Cup, Spain

[Qualia11]

Next is six nation event where India play likes of Argentina,New Zealand,Germany,Spain and Ireland.

I think more than losing to sides like Australia,its the performances against New Zealand and Argentina that has disappointed me the most.

We tend to do well with top sides one day but mess up with these sides the next day.I dont know if its got to do with not taking them seriously or a sense of complacency that happens after doing well against a top side or because we play them in a group stage match where win or loss does not count much as we are already in quarters.

In the run upto the Olympics, I think we would have played against almost all teams that have qualified,except Brazil(which doesnt matter) and Holland(who dropped out of CT)

[jaydeep]

The team is announced for the six nations tournament which is starting from next week ... Sardar Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra and Oltmans favorite Ramandeep Singh r back in the team.

Goalkeepers - PR Sreejesh (VC), Vikas Dahiya
Defenders - Rupinderpal Singh, VR Raghunath, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders - Danish Mujtaba, Chinglensana Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sardar Singh (C), SK Uthappa, Devindar Walmiki, Harjeet Singh
Forwards - Talwinder Singh, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah

[sameerph]

So, it looks like they are back with full strength team. Would have liked to see Lalit Upadhyay, Mohd. Amir Khan , Gurbaz and Dharamvir Singh too in the mix to bolster the attack which still looks a bit weak.

But, it seems they have more or less decided on the team for Rio. Looks like 2-3 will be omitted from among the squad of 20 chosen for this tournament + Mandeep Singh to from our final Rio squad.

[arjun2761]

It will be interesting to see how India play in this tournament in terms of motivation as they are just coming off the Champions trophy while 4 of the other 5 didn't play in the Champions trophy. Hopefully, the fact that some of the players are still fighting for places on the team will motivate them to play hard...

[PKBasu]

Good to see the continued preparation of the team through tournament play in Europe before the Olympics. Playing against the next tier of teams (including the likes of New Zealand and Argentina who have often beaten us in recent times) is excellent preparation -- and there should be absolutely no question of complacency in such matches.

[ssp]

We are 3-0 down to Germany before half time in the 1st match. Oh dear...back down to earth with a bump

[ssp]

Ended 4-0. Not a good start. We were 3-0 down within 14 mins. All goals came from PCs.

[jaydeep]

Ended 4-0. Not a good start. We were 3-0 down within 14 mins. All goals came from PCs.

OUCH!

[sameerph]

Damn, I expected Germany to come back strongly but 0-4 is really bad. I hope it is a temporary blip.

[prasen9]

I do hope that London was not a temporary blip .

[jaydeep]

Indians scored tight win over Irish team, 2-1, for registering their first win ... Indians fought back after Kyle Good strike in the fourth minute gave the lead to Ireland but goals from Talwinder Singh in 2nd quarter and Sardar Singh in 3rd quarter helped us for a win ... Worrying sign is failure of Rupinder Pal Singh and Raghunath's penalty corner conversion.

[ssp]

Good to get a win, but rather sloppy display. I think Oltmans is trying out a few different things. For example, Sardar was playing as a forward and Raghunath was at right half/back. Sunil and Harmanpreet were rested.

Unfortunately, we have no one as good as Gurbaj in the right half/back position. There seems no chance of the selectors or HI coming to their senses on this one. The other player that we seem to have discarded is Dharamvir. He is far stronger on the ball and much more creative than Uthappa, Danish or Chinglensana. Looks like we will be taking 2 of these 3. None of them are ideal, but Chinglensana has improved a bit. The other 2 are just not good enough at this level.

I'm watching Germany toy with NZ. They are 4-0 up at half time and look really strong. On this evidence, they are the nearest team to Australia.
Finished 6-1. Germany seem to be peaking just in time for the Olympics. All their players have brilliant skills (honed by indoor hockey), get really low to tackle or keep possession and play safe/sensible passes and move the ball quickly. We tend to be slow to release the ball and our our passes are sluggish or misplaced. We are still too inconsistent.

[akmohanty]

Can one actually watch these matches live somewhere?

[prasen9]

Yes, in the stadium, I think.

[trojan]

Can one actually watch these matches live somewhere?

Today's match was streamed live on YouTube. Facebook page of Hockey India shared the link.