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

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

Post by jaydeep »

The Pools and match schedule have been released for Commonwealth ... Indian women will received a chance of facing WR #2 England women's team in their World Cup preparation ... As both teams r in the same group in World Cup also ... The top 2 ranked teams from each pool advance to Semifinals.

Women's Pool A
England (WR #2), India (WR #10), South Africa (WR #14), Malaysia (WR #22), Wales (WR #26)

Women's Pool B
Australia (WR #4), New Zealand (WR #5), Scotland (WR #18), Canada (WR #21), Ghana (WR #30)

Indian Women's Matches Schedule
India vs Wales - 5th April 2018
India vs Malaysia - 6th April 2018
India vs England - 8th April 2018
India vs South Africa - 10th April 2018
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by jaydeep »

The Pools and match schedule for men's event also have been released ... India is in Pool B and will be playing their first match against Pakistan ... The top 2 ranked teams from each pool advance to Semifinals.

Men's Pool A
Australia (WR #2), New Zealand (WR #8), Canada (WR #11), South Africa (WR #15), Scotland (WR #23)

Men's Pool B
India (WR #6), England (WR #7), Pakistan (WR #12), Malaysia (WR #13), Wales (WR #24)

Indian Men's Matches Schedule
India vs Pakistan - 7th April 2018
India vs Wales - 8th April 2018
India vs Malaysia - 10th April 2018
India vs England - 11th April 2018
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

This is the men's team:
Goalkeepers 1. Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran 2. Suraj Karkera
Defenders 3. Rupinder Pal Singh 4. Harmanpreet Singh 5. Varun Kumar 6. Kothajit Singh Kadangbam 7. Gurinder Singh 8. Amit Rohidas
Midfielders 9. Manpreet Singh(C) 10. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (VC) 11. Sumit 12. Vivek Sagar Prasad
Forwards 13. Akashdeep Singh 14. Sunil Sowmarpet Vitalacharya 15. Gurjant Singh 16. Mandeep Singh 17. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay 18. Dilpreet Singh

Just a few odd decisions: Mandeep gets selected instead of Sumit Kumar. Can't see the logic there. Only 4 midfielders, so I expect Lalit or Kothajit to provide extra cover. Ramandeep is surprisingly dropped and of course, no Sardar.

Pleased to see Gurinder, Vivek and Dilpreet in the squad. Our key pool game will be v. England as finishing top will mean avoiding Australia.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

So, I see that they have kept the nucleus of the side same as in world league finals in December ( which was the last time we played a full team and we got a bronze) and made a few changes based on the 2 experimental tours in between ( New Zelannd and Sultan Azlan Shah Cup). So, out go Akash Chitke, Dipsan Turkey, Birendra Lakra and SK Utthappa from that team and in come Sreejesh, Gurinder, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Dipreet Singh.

Overall good changes, I think. Needed 1 more to get Mandeep out and either Ramadeep or young Sumit Kumar in his place.

Still, except 1 place this must be the best team which we can field as of now. Hope we at least repeat the silver that we got in the last games and try go for gold.

P.S - Added Hockey at the start of this thread and opening a new thread to discuss other sports.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Overall good changes, I think. Needed 1 more to get Mandeep out and either Ramadeep or young Sumit Kumar in his place.

Still, except 1 place this must be the best team which we can field as of now.
Almost the best team in my opinion. We are only missing Gurbaj (for one of the defenders), Sumit Kumar for Mandeep and Affan Yousseff for Akashdeep.

Possibly Surender Kumar for Kothajit and reduce one defender for an extra midfielder?
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Disastrous start in Womens Hockey for us. We lost to #26 Wales 2-3 in the opening match. :damn:
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Shocking result from the women. All the hype about winning the event from the coaches and then they play like this. I can't see them getting out of the pool if they lose to teams like Wales. :damn:
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Today our women team beat Malaysia 4-1. The end result looks good but till about 15 mins to go we were tied at 1-1 and it quite a pathetic showing till then. We did play better in the last 15 mins. Hope that gives them some confidence because they need that if they want to go to the semi finals.

Tomorrow, our mens team start with a match against Pakistan. We have dominated Pakistan in recent times but Rolent Oltmans have joined them as coach and he knows Indian players well.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Our women's team need help from South Africa (or possibly Malaysia) to beat Wales. This is assuming we can defeat South Africa. I am not expecting us to get a result against England, who will be too fast and physical for us. Looks a tall order to get into the semis after that dreadful loss to Wales.

In the men's section, England look really good and I think we will struggle against them in the pool stages. Pakistan looked awful against Wales, as did Malaysia in their 7-0 thrashing by England, but both of these Asian teams will get more space and chances against us.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

Just started watching our game v Pakistan and we concede straightaway. Still leading 2-1 in Q4 but we are playing horrible hockey. So many errors all over the pitch. All Pakistan so far. I think we'll do well to keep this lead. No composure from any of our players and we can't string more than 2 passes together. Silly yellow card before end of Q3

Oh dear, a great chance missed by Pakistan, but a PC conceded. Can we hold out? Sreejesh saves, but clumsy stuff by a defender and another PC conceded. And a 3rd PC for Pak. We keep it out.

Pakistan looking the better team. Need someone to get our players to calm down and stop doing crazy things. Just keep possession. Unfortunately we continue to do the wrong things, when an easy pass is on. Zero composure or leadership from the entire team.

Utter lunacy by several players and now we have to defend a PC with 7 secs left. Shocking stuff Oh dear, we are being stuffed by the review system. 2 dubious calls and we still have to defend a PC. And as expected we concede. :damn:

Well done you utter fools. All the usual culprits can be thanked for a horrible period of play. Rupinder, Akashdeep and Mandeep gave the ball away repeatedly in the last 2 mins alone. Manpreet kept trying 'hollywood' passes when all he needed to do was pass to a free man right next to him. Frankly we were crap from the moment I started watching. We have no chance of winning a medal here on this showing. England will hammer us.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by jaydeep »

Yes, last 7 seconds two referral PC's were controversial as no proof was seen that ball hitting to defenders feet ... But still I feel, this was deserving result for Pakistan considering our pathetic play in the last two quarters after taking 2-0 lead at the half-time ... The match could be in favor of Pakistan, but Sreejesh had 2-3 scintillating saves ... When 3 mins were remaining, Mandeep had a good opportunity, but instead of passing ball to Sunil (who was alone in-front of the goal) he tried stupid reverse-flick attempt which went out due to mishit and losing the possession.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by ssp »

When 3 mins were remaining, Mandeep had a good opportunity, but instead of passing ball to Sunil (who was alone in-front of the goal) he tried stupid reverse-flick attempt which went out due to mishit and losing the possession.
This is usual for Mandeep, in fact I was surprised he didn't lose control earlier! But expect him to be in the squad for the next few years at least. Akashdeep lost the ball inexplicably with just a few seconds to go. I just groaned when the ball was passed to him and knew Pakistan would have possession within seconds. He did this in a 3/4th play off v Holland and the same thing happened (we conceded with seconds remaining). Again, he will be rewarded with another 3-4 year run to continually mess up. We deserve to drop points with such incompetence from the players and more importantly, from the selectors.

Rupinder Pal had possession with 20-30 seconds remaining and all he had to do was pass it around, but chose to try a 60m pass which landed on a Pakistan stick. Totally unacceptable level of play at this level.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by jaydeep »

ssp wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:37 am Rupinder Pal had possession with 20-30 seconds remaining and all he had to do was pass it around, but chose to try a 60m pass which landed on a Pakistan stick. Totally unacceptable level of play at this level.
Yes, I think that happened when only 27 seconds were remaining on the clock ... Another inexplicable mistake from senior as from their Pakistan's last attack started ... Totally agree with our pathetic possession losing habits when we were in control.

Sreejesh tweeted -
sreejesh p r
We can’t be too harsh on the umpires 🙏 ..Some they commit mistake 👍, it’s we who gave him a chance!! Don’t be disappoint ‘ still we grab a point ... Each penny counts when it’s really matters ... let move on guys , There are big matches coming @GC2018 #CommonwealthGames2018
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by Sin Hombre »

ssp wrote: Fri Apr 06, 2018 5:08 pm Our women's team need help from South Africa (or possibly Malaysia) to beat Wales. This is assuming we can defeat South Africa. I am not expecting us to get a result against England, who will be too fast and physical for us. Looks a tall order to get into the semis after that dreadful loss to Wales.
Quite a turnaround from the girls with the 3 goals in the final quarter against Malaysia; and coming back from a goal down to beat #2 England 2-1 woohoo

First ever defeat for the English ladies at the CWG.

Hopefully our men also suffered a case of early blues and will make a similar comeback.
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Re: Hockey at the Gold Coast 2018 - XXI Commonwealth Games, Australia - 5-14 April

Post by sameerph »

Wow, a win over England is excellent. Great turnaround by our women team.
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