Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by Sin Hombre »

Pakistan somehow pull off a 2-2 draw with England as well.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Yes, they seem to have improved under Oltmans. Makes our group interesting. If we can beat England, we can still top the group.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Wow. Amazing win over England by our women. I'm so happy to be proved wrong in my prediction. Now, we don't have to rely on other results to enter the semis. A good win over South Africa may even give us top place in the group. :bounce:
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Our men having another shocker. 2-2 with Wales at the end of Q3. Disgraceful stuff. Total rubbish from Akashdeep, Mandeep and a few other and generally playing dumb hockey. We honestly don't deserve to get out of this group if this is the crap we are producing.

Any Wales PC in the Q4 will see us losing this. Our PCs are rubbish.

Q4 starts with more rubbish. Can't even pass on the floor when under no pressure. Mandeep unable to trap simple passes. Frustrating as hell
Such clumsy play all over.

Another PC for us and again Rupinder is slow and straight at the keeper. Can't see how we can get a goal based on our lack of creativity. Just whacking hopeful balls in and hoping for the best. Wales just need to string one good move and they will have a chance of nicking this. 6 mins left. We get another PC. Can we get one away. Umpire costs us a goal...no surprise. Another PC. Try a variation you fools....no goes to Rupinder who has been utterly crap at PCs today. Wasted. Under 4 mins left. Another PC for us. Please try a variation. Harmanpreet scores at last. Can we hold out for the last 3 mins?

Oh dear. One attack and inevitable PC conceded and Wales are back to 3-3 within a minute.

Akashdeep and Mandeep display their garbage within seconds and waste another chance. Please drop these 2...please. We have another PC, rather lucky one on referra. We scramble a goal. We hold on for a 4-3 win by somehow managing to hold out for 90 secs, but not before 3 of our players lost possession needlessly. What is wrong with these guys? Dreadful display overall
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by jaydeep »

Yes ssp, really shocking display by our players in CWG ... We are struggling with passes, building proper attack, in defending, keeping possession and playing like a team ... Really pathetic game by our team in 1st two matches.

Today, we were lucky to win 4-3 against impressive Wales.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Watching Australia demolish Scotland. 5-1 at half time and it could have been 3 more in the last 5 mins alone.

In contrast we were really dreadful against Wales. Our defensive structure looks weak (commentators mentioned this too) and there is a lack of movement in the final third and little creativity to get shots at goal or PCs. Then we are handicapped by Akashdeep and Mandeep. I have seen these 2 for several years do the same kind of cr*p in almost every match. Akashdeep lost the ball every time and when in a good position in the D often produces NOTHING. No shot on target or a PC. If Mandeep stops the ball or passes accurately a couple of times in a match, that is a good performance from him.

Our women played well today. Their intensity and pressing was unrecognisable from the garbage dished out under Hawgood. Fitness and ball speed are improved too. We were lucky today, but were very competitive through out the match. A year or two ago, we were hammered by England/GB mercilessly in a test series. It was obvious our previous coach was not up to it, but HI dithered for 4 years or more....really frustrating waste of time.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by Sin Hombre »

Slightly better this time around from the men to beat Malaysia 2-1 to advance to the semifinals. Still not at the level we have seen from them recently.

Tomorrow is the all important game against England to decide who gets to lose to Australia in the semis.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by suresh »

Sin Hombre wrote: Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:18 am Tomorrow is the all important game against England to decide who gets to lose to Australia in the semis.
Sounds a lot like something @ssp would say! :D
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Sin Hombre wrote: ↑Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:18 am
Tomorrow is the all important game against England to decide who gets to lose to Australia in the semis.
Sounds a lot like something @ssp would say! :D
Yes, I was going to post exactly that line! :D :D
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Just saw that England just narrowly beat Wales by 3-2, same margin as ours. So, we may have a chance against them but I think need to improve a lot from what we have played so far.

Women player later today in a key match against South Africa. We only a need to draw to qualify for SF but need to win by a 5 goal margin to get ahead of England to top the pool and avoid Australia in the SF.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Our women just about beat South Africa 1-0 to qualify for semi final as second from group. I watched major part of this match and it was a scrappy match. Our women players do seem to be intimidated against physically strong players. We have 3-4 really skill full players- captain Rani Rampal,Vandana Katariya and Deepika as I see ( unless I missed someone). We need 2-3 more to become a top 6 team, I think.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

We have 3-4 really skill full players- captain Rani Rampal,Vandana Katariya and Deepika as I see ( unless I missed someone). We need 2-3 more to become a top 6 team, I think.
Deepika is excellent as is Rani. Neha Goyal and Laremsiami are good prospects too.

Agree with the physical aspect of our game. I've made this point previously. We are beaten by the European/Oceanic teams on this alone. Skill wise only the Dutch and Argentinians are better. Our structure is still not as good as it should be, but about 3 grades better with Harendra, compared to the Hawgood era.

A tight game v SA today but we came through 1-0. Well done to our team and coaches, especially after the horrible start against Wales. So a semi against Australia next

We have struggled most against NZ in the past 6-8 years. They are far too quick and physical for us as well as pressing us relentlessly in our own third of the pitch. Australia are strong favourites to beat us in the semi, but we did beat them in one match last year (I think).

Our men need to beat England to avoid Australia in the semi. Depends what side of the bed our players wake up on the day. So far at the CWG, they seem to be still sleeping when they step on to the pitch.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

And we beat England 4-3 . :clap:

Crazy fourth quarter. We were down 0-1 at half time and it was 1-1 at the end of third quarter. Then, it went 2-1, 2-2, 2-3 and then we scored 2 goals in last 3 minutes. :D

Good match by our guys especially in the second half they put a lot of pressure on England which made them make mistakes.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Phew, the last 10 mins were crazy.

India could not hold on (as usual) after taking a 2-1 lead, and then England did a brilliant impersonation of Indian teams by losing their heads in the last 2 mins!

Performance was much better as we actually pressed much better and created lots of turnovers.

Negatives were soft PCs conceded and a fair few unforced errors. Rupinder Pal may have injured his hamstring. We still look a bit limited on attacking options. It seems like a crash ball is the main weapon.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by Sin Hombre »

@ssp how is our recent record against NZ? Would be nice if we can get a silver in the men's and at least justify our world ranking.

Interesting that the 4 semifinalists are the same for both men and women.
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