Champions Trophy Hockey, Breda,Netherlands, June 23-July 1 2018

[PKBasu]

The old, old habit of conceding a goal just before the finish
From the look of things, we dominated about three-fourths of the match, but didn't manage to add to the 1-0 score (from Harmanpreet's PC conversion in the first quarter). And that proved our undoing in the end despite Sreejesh's repeated heroics.

[PKBasu]

Pakistan thrashed Argentina 4-1 in the earlier match to get onto the board for the first time. So Pakistan and Belgium on 3 points each are at the bottom of the league table now. India are second with 7 points pending the result of the Australia-Holland game.

Actually, if Holland beat Australia today, India will be second (ahead of Australia on goal difference; we are +4 now, to +2 for Australia). If Australia beat Holland, we will still be second (with 7 points, to 6 for Holland). If it is a draw, Australia will have 8 points, we will be third behind Holland (who are ahead of us on goal difference). Then the only way to make the final will be to beat Holland in the last match.

[jayakris]

I am sorry, Harendra is an idiot. There is no way in hell we should have fallen apart during the last 20-25 minutes. How many brainless passes and aerial bullsh*t should the coach allow when we are leading? He should be yelling and stopping it from the sideline. How long it went on, was painful to watch. The final goal was a foregone conclusion, and I had thrown my remote already when we did a random long aerial ball out of our end for no reasons and gave them the possession. Belgium made some minor halftime adjustments on not standing around and allowing the easy passes that we were doing, and our off-the-ball positioning issues showed up in all its glory. We stopped passing with any purpose, and totally fell apart. Belgium had a 2 to 1 lead on every stat in the second half, after we led at the end of the half on every stat. Totally lopsided game in the last 20-25 minutes.

But damn, this team defends like their lives depend on it, with a lot of skill .... That's why we managed a draw. But when we have the ball, we look terribly uncoached. I challenge Harendra to pull off a podium finish, be the first Indian coach on astroturf to do that in a big 3 event, and make me eat crow gladly. I don't believe he is capable of that, and I bet it will get proven in the next 2 matches.

This team has a lot of talent but needs some coach to put some brains into them. They should be winning a lot more than they are. Come on coach, prove me wrong.

[arjun2761]

Pakistan thrashed Argentina 4-1 in the earlier match to get onto the board for the first time. So Pakistan and Belgium on 3 points each are at the bottom of the league table now. India are second with 7 points pending the result of the Australia-Holland game.

Actually, if Holland beat Australia today, India will be second (ahead of Australia on goal difference; we are +4 now, to +2 for Australia). If Australia beat Holland, we will still be second (with 7 points, to 6 for Holland). If it is a draw, Australia will have 8 points, we will be third behind Holland (who are ahead of us on goal difference). Then the only way to make the final will be to beat Holland in the last match.

Australia beat Holland and are in the final. We are currently second and a draw or win with Holland will get us to the finals. Otherwise, Holland will make the final. With a loss, we will be playing the 3-4th place match.

[ssp]

Shame we couldn't hold on for the win, but inability to stay calm and lack of composure is maddening. I have seen countless matches where we supidly go defensive and still concede....usually in the last few minutes.

Still we are guaranteed a bronze medal play off. That's better than expected following the poor showings at the CWG and Azlan Shah Cup.

As Jay rightly points out, we insist on being dumb under pressure- terrible trapping and passing, panic clearances and concede PCs at every opportunity. We just haven't got the quality in midfield or attack. Too many of our players in these positions make crazy decisions under pressure.

In the end, a win wouldn't have ensured a final. We need at least a draw against Holland to reach the final. I fear the Dutch will be too good for us, because under pressure we usually crumble. And we haven't had the truly shocking performance that we dish out at every tournament

Well done to Pakistan on an impressive win.

[jayakris]

we insist on being dumb under pressure- terrible trapping and passing, panic clearances and concede PCs at every opportunity. We just haven't got the quality in midfield or attack. Too many of our players in these positions make crazy decisions under pressure.

I am not even sure if it is only panic. It is stupid coaching that tells these players to beat pressure by trying counter goals etc, rather than have a plan, get into position to receive a pass and kill the clock a bit. I think we even have quality in the mid field, but no amount of skills would help consistently when you are being pressed and double-teamed by the other team that takes risks and is desperate. You need to have others help you out. That is mostly a matter of positioning of at least one teammate, and is eminently doable. Not too different from basketball, in fact. Even being able to take 5-10 seconds off with an extra outlet pass or two gives time for our players to catch a breath, control the nerves and set up to do what they do very well at the back end, which is to harass the other team and defend. But if you are trying breakaways constantly and are only heaving it or long-balling it out to the other team, we will be panicking at the back when it comes right back. Then it's a goal on us, or PC after PC that eventually will become a goal. We could see it coming from a mile away, as there were 3 minutes to go yesterday. Just brainless stuff.

The other team may screw it up and we may hold on too. But that would normally be against the lesser team; not the Aussies and the Dutch. The Belgians almost screwed it up on a poor aerial into traffic at the end (of course after intercepting a brainless heave from us), but somehow their guy controlled the high ball, and that led to the flurry of PCs that ended up as the goal in the end. It was all frustrating to see.

I know I may be amateurish in my analysis, as I don't play hockey, but heck, something needs to be done - and I don't see our idiot coaches doing it. Just watch how Australia defended when we were in desperation mode at the end in the previous match, and that should tell something. But if the coaches are idiots, we can't do anything.

[PKBasu]

Pakistan lost 2-4 to Belgium in their last games today, so Pakistan have assured themselves of finishing last in the pool stage. Whether they play Argentina or Belgium in the playoff for 5th place will depend on the outcome of Argentina's game against Australia tomorrow (before the India-Holland match).

[jayakris]

India - Netherlands 0-0 at the half-time. We are playing quite well, in terms of avoiding mistakes, and defending very alertly. Had a few nice runs into the Dutch goal, and a couple of good attempts by Dilpreet but generally we are not threatening much to score. The Dutch has been at our end more often and have had a lot more possession time, but they are finding it tough to break our defense, with Sreejesh saving a couple of good shots and Surender Kumar doing very well back there.

Earlier today, Argentina beat Australia 2-1, so ARG is assured of a 3rd place match. If we tie or win, we are in the final with 10 or 8 points. Otherwise, NED will have 9 points and make the final.

[jayakris]

India held Netherlands to 1-1 to finish #2 behind Australia and make the final!!! Harendra for president! We finally have an Indian coach who has made a podium finish at one of the big-3 events, EVER, on astroturf. Yeeeeehhhhaaaawww. Harendra has converted me into a believer in him.

This was nerve-wracking at the end though. We scored first with 10 minutes to go on a penalty corner rebound from their goalie, which Manpreet put in. We continued to defend very well without panicking till the 3 minute mark when NED equalized off a great goal from an impossible angle after we had their guy defended well and running out of space. It was helter-skelter in the last 3 minutes, but generally I felt we held our nerves and did not try any mad heaves or long passes that could get intercepted. Still with 1 min 30 to go, they seemingly scored again, off a superb deflection but the ump sent it for referral and the video review said that NED had not stopped the ball before the free hit that started the sequence (it made sense, as our guys seemed surprised at how quickly NED scored there). But we did a great job of keeping possession in the last 90 seconds, which is what I was so scared of, after seeing the last couple of matches. Great job India!

We will now do at least as well as we did at the last Champions, and have a chance to win our first Champions trophy if we can somehow beat the Aussies. But, unlike all other top teams, we almost ever beat the Aussies, and are usually just inept against the running style of play they have, so I cannot be too hopeful. But I think our team may play a free game without the pressure of expectations, so anything is possible.

[sameerph]

And we finish 1-1 against Netherlands and qualify for finals against Australia.

I did not see this match. But, whatever happens in the final it is a good performance by us in this tournament. Draws against Belgium and Netherlands and win against Argentina, all teams ranked higher than us.

I think we must give credit to Harendra for this performance in his first tournament as a coach after debacle in CWG.

[jayakris]

I think we must give credit to Harendra for this performance in his first tournament as a coach after debacle in CWG.

Absolutely. I would give Harendra the Dronacharya right now if I could. No jokes. It is something that I considered an impossibility for the last 25 years, for an Indian coach, that he accomplished today.

[PKBasu]

I think this year’s campaign was more convincing by India than in 2016. Then we beat Britain (hosts) and South Korea 2-1, but lost to Belgium and Australia (2-4) in the pool stages, and drew with Germany.
This year, our victories over Argentina (2-1) and Pakistan (4-0) were more emphatic, and the draws against Belgium and the Netherlands were just what was needed.

Last time we had a goalless draw in the final but lost 1-3 in penalties. Let’s win it this time!

[jayakris]

Ah, it feels good to see this points table.

Code: Select all

Country Played 	Wins 	Draws 	Losses 	GF 	GA 	GD 	WD 	LD 	Points
AUS 	5 	3 	1 	1 	13 	10 	3 	0 	0 	10
IND 	5 	2 	2 	1 	10 	6 	4 	0 	0 	8
NED 	5 	2 	1 	2 	13 	7 	6 	0 	0 	7
ARG 	5 	2 	1 	2 	8 	10 	-2 	0 	0 	7
BEL 	5 	1 	3 	1 	10 	13 	-3 	0 	0 	6
PAK 	5 	1 	0 	4 	7 	15 	-8 	0 	0 	3

[ssp]

Phew, just held on there. Elated to make the final. Well done to the team and Harendra. Sreejesh has been fantastic and I'd rate him as the best keeper in the world right now.

For a change, the umpiring helped us on the disallowed goal at the end. This tournament's performances have exceeded my expectations by a country mile. The competition is tougher than the 2016 edition.

As Jay mentioned earlier, we are usually overwhelmed by the relentless press and running of the Aussies. In the past we just could get out of our own half and used to resort to hopeful aerials. In the past few years we have improved but it will be a shock if we win tomorrow.

[PKBasu]

Pakistan drew 2-2 against Belgium but were then beaten on penalties to finish last. But Oeltmans is already having an impact: Pakistan played like a team ranked 6-8, not like one ranked 13th, in this tournament.

The Netherlands beat Argentina 2-0 to finish 3rd.

Now just the final awaits! Go India: Jai Hind!

Harendra has clearly had a very positive impact. He took our teams to the Junior World Cup title and the women’s Asian Cup in his previous avatars. It would be wonderful if he can deliver the Champions Trophy this evening!