I was emotional! It was first ever live National Anthem in the stadium, first ever live match of India (in any sports), first ever seeing heroes in person, after seeing them on TV for several years. Me and my friend were screaming, we were waving
the India flag, we were jumping when India showed up.. And then they disappointed us in their performance yesterday. They needed 8 goal margins to stay on top of the pool, and the score was 4-2. They were disorganized, they did not attack consistently, as if they had given up to be number one in this pool.
Usually I sleep overnight, bring back my rationality, see all replays and then make my judgments about the game. Maybe I was asking too much from India to get an 8-0 score against Wales. Maybe! But still India cannot be so disorganized and continue to miss so many opportunities. Harmanpreet Singh is supposed to be the star drag flicker of the world in penalty corners. Well, maybe weighed down by the new captaincy, his penalty corner performance has been pretty unimpressive. Our star player Hardik Singh did not play. But he showed up on the field for warm up, suggesting that he may play in the next game. One great news is that, in this league matches of the so-called death pool, we won two matches and drew one. Not bad at all!
Hockey tournamens are like the Indian classical music. It’s “Vilambit” tempo builds through slow league matches with the only objective is to build mood, demonstrate some key strengths, and qualify for next round. Now knockout matches start from 21st. Hopefully, players will start playing “drut” tempo along with some bandish and tarana. I will be ecstatic and pissed off possibly in the same game, and that is exactly what the tournament is supposed to be.
Finally, some other news. England beat Spain 4-0 and topped the pool. Netherlands beat Chile by 14-0 creating the world record for goals. Malaysia beat New Zealand 3-2 in a competitive game. So, as of now, from Pool C, Netherlands, Malaysia and NZ qualified while Chile was eliminated. From Pool D, England, India and Spain qualified and Wales was eliminated.
