10th Asia Cup 2017 - Bangladesh

[ankit1407]

SF India vs Malaysia

Halftime :- India leading 1-0, goal came in 8th minute as a result of a PC conversion.

[PKBasu]

Crucial strike by Raghunath off a PC in the 8th minute. India are up 1-0, and we are through to the World Cup -- while Pakistan are out.

[PKBasu]

Mandeep makes it 2-0 in the 60th minute. Indian hockey is back at last!!??

Oeltmans the miracle maker??!

[jayakris]

Mandeep makes it 2-0 in the 60th minute. Indian hockey is back at last!!??
Oeltmans the miracle maker??!

2-0 win in the end, for the record.

Is Oeltmans the miracle worker? Well, we just beat Korea and Malaysia, which are not such miracles... But it is good to see that Oeltmans has done his job so far. But then again, he is the first guy ever to satisfy my long-standing simple resume criterion for India's national coach . He has coached men's teams to Olympics and world cup titles, while my criteria only needed a podium finish at Olympics/ World-Cup/ Champions on astroturf. He far exceeds the criterion.

But he is still not officially the National coach, is he? Appoint the guy properly as the coach, come up with the money needed, and let's put this to rest.

Jay

[PKBasu]

India beat Malaysia 2-0 in the SF, and go through to the final as the only unbeaten team in the Asia Cup!!!

Beating Malaysia in Malaysia is never easy, but this was a superb performance. I didn't get to watch it, as it was shown on an obscure channel that my subscription doesn't cover (and the late night showing was after Customer Service had closed for the night...). But it seems Sreejesh was brilliant again, but so was the Malaysian goalie Kumar Subramaniam. Rupinderpal and Ramandeep set up the second goal for Mandeep, but the latter was a live wire in attack through most of the match. India seems to have dominated, and the scoreline was a good reflection of that. On the eve of Malaysia's National Day, the stadium was packed -- and India came out on top in an electrifying atmosphere. Well done, Team India!!

[prasen9]

Good things happen when Sandeep is not in the team [Sorry for being flippant.] Good win!

[PKBasu]

I know where you are coming from, Jay! We have learnt to be skeptical about India's progress in hockey over the past 37 years. And, we do better against Asian competition than against others, no doubt.

But "only" beating Korea? I think that is a bit un-generous!! We not only beat Korea, but did not concede a goal while putting 2 of ours into their goal!! And did the same to Malaysia today! These are not typical Indian performances. Normally, in the past 30 years, any Indian team would wobble in the last 10 minutes, concede a goal or two, and let leads be frittered away. The solidity of 2-0 stands out for me!

[jayakris]

No, no, no... I am *very* happy with the good wins, especially the shutout performances from what seems to be a bit more of a solid defense and a really good goalie. I was only saying that this hasn't reached miracle levels yet... That would be like beating NED, AUS, GER etc. At least we have had a few wins against Korea here and there, unlike against those guys. Hope Oeltmans is the guy to take us to real miracles down the line. So far, so good. Jay

[Atithee]

Yes, the ability to hold on the lead is indeed a very good change from the recent times. What matters is that we did what we needed to do and didn't have to rely on others to sneak in. So, congrats are due and if the coach has a hand in it, as he must, then good for Indian hockey.

It is, of course, much easier to revive a sport in which we once exceled than to become world beaters in new sports, unless they are new for everyone and not a simple off-shoot of some other popular sport. I hope this is the ray of sunshine we have been looking for a long time. Chake de India!

[kaustav]

PKB and Jay please wait till the final...because I believe we should start think about it after the back to back win over South Korea in Final...If they can manage that we should celebrate ..Right now please hold it

[prasen9]

Our players are already satisfied and celebrating at qualifying. I expect a let-down in the finals.

[PKBasu]

More than our players, it is the stupid press that is saying things like "the final doesn't matter any more". Come again??! This is the Asia Cup! OK, one purpose was to qualify for the World Cup, but surely winning the Asia Cup is its own reward (and source of pride and honour). Surely, Oltmans will not let such ludicrous thinking enter the team: go win that final in style, team!

[arjun2761]

Congrats to Team India for a solid performance so far and qualification into the WC. Beating Korea would be really nice as we don't necessarily have all of our best players here through injury and politics. Very encouraging and best of luck to Team India in the finals!

However, a miracle would be a top-4 finish at the World Cup while a top-6 finish would also be a really good performance...

[ssp]

It is good to qualify for the WC, but would it have really mattered if hadn't? We are not going to trouble the top teams there anyway. It is more important to get a tournament win here, so the final is our most crucial match and I'm sure Oltmans will not ignore this obvious fact.

Didn't watch the whole match, but saw the last 10 mins and amazingly we kept a clean sheet. The defending was ok- which means it was much better than the usual nonsense and there wasn't the usual panic aerials and horrible mistakes. There were mistakes with soft turnovers etc.but somehow we had enough numbers back to prevent easy inroads into our D.The results have been encouraging so far, especially the fact that we have conceded only one goal so far!!

I don't know why Oltmans is not appointed the full time coach. I suspect the thinking is that he will be a defensive coach, but don't care how we play, so long as we get decent results and show long term improvement. Sign him for next 2 years at least.

Sad day for Pakistan hockey. I think India and Pakistan take it in turns to be awful at Olympics or WCs. India failed to make the 08 Olympics, followed by Pakistan's last place in 2010 WC, then India came last at '12 Olympics and now (not to be outdone) Pakistan fail to even qualify for the WC.

Pakistan still have some wonderful players, but not as many as they used to and they are as dumb as us when it comes to keeping up with modern trends. I'd still watch any Pakistani team over a boring GB, NZ or German team. I know Pakistan have been bitter foes and we have been thrashed by them many times, but as a genuine fan of hockey, I'm sorry for their decline.

[sameerph]

Yes, good performance but not a miracle yet. A top 4 finish at either world cup or Olympics is something which we have not achieved since 1980 & beating either Germany, Australia or Holland in a major championships too is something which I don't think we have done for many years. So, if any of those 2 things happen , that would be some miracle.

Btw, I think technically we have still not qualified for world cup. In the unlikely event of neither Australia nor New Zealand winning the Oceania cup, we can still get knocked out. But, then Samoa or Papua New Guinea beating Australia & New Zealand would be a miracle out of this world. So, we are as good as qualified.

A win in the final will of course confirm our spot immediately.