It's not the first time India has been relegated to the also-rans in the World Cup, but now we are showing signs of our inability to fix the problems. Such situations need drastic measures, which if delayed might lead to Indian hockey simply fading a
Falling behind South Korea and Pakistan was bad enough and now it is even Japan. And there will also be Malaysia to contend with in the Asian Games. The Indians must wake up now.
The playoffs for minor positions are games that teams must play. It is such situations that test the ability of team officials to motivate the boys to go out and give their best.
Repeatedly cracking under pressure at the closing stages does not do credit to a team in any grade of hockey, leave alone an international side. Updates
The tactics the team has adopted left everyone surprised. It was as if we were playing for draws every time we got on to the turf, and scoring goals was not in our plan of things.
India confined themselves into a defensive shell and allowed England to dominate so much that it was embarrassing. India did not just lose the match, they might have lost some of the respect that our teams get inspite of slipping from the podium deca
Indian hockey has lamented wasted opportunities at the start of major tournaments for several decades. The same story was repeated in the opening contest against Germany, where the team came close to the country's best start for a long time.
Keeping in mind the Indian team's inconsistency in big events, I will be very happy to see the side figure in the semi-finals, for from there anything can happen. But realistically, that is going to be very tough.
The trademark of sub-continental game is smooth, aggressive and attacking hockey. India have forgotten their own strength and are falling back too often, and unnecessarily at that.Surely, the team management has realised the team are vulnerable on
One final fling at a medal is still left, and my fear is that if we get that, we might gloss over all that is wrong with this team. Believe me, there is a lot wrong there.
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