Category: Hockey2023

WTF! What is going on? Really? Have you ever heard of three consecutive comebacks (with two goals behind)! This is beyond any imagination, beyond expectations, beyond my wildest dreams, beyond any articulations, beyond any thoughts! I am truly numb! Germany wins gold in the penalty shootout.  

This was a fight between the flags with the same colors, only one was vertical and one horizontal. This was a fight between experience (Belgium had 11 players with more than 200 international caps) versus youth (Germany had one player with more than 200 caps). This was a fight between the traditional war horse (Germany with four Olympics gold, two world cups and 18 European championships) and the new kid on the block (Belgium won one Olympics gold, one world cup and one European championship, all in the last three years). Tradition, legacy and youth is a weird combination to win the tournament.

So, what really happened? Same old, same old! Belgium worked methodically and scored two beautiful field goals. This time, Germany woke up much earlier than in previous matches and secured a penalty stroke. This is the second consecutive match where they missed the freaking penalty stroke.  This is totally unheard off! But Germans were determined to entertain this sold-out stadium! Germans were not rattled. Wellen and Peillat (Do you remember from my previous blog that he migrated recently from Argentina?) scored on the penalty corners even before the start of the fourth quarter. In my mind, I started scripting the blog ending in a penalty shootout. But wait, drama continued. Germany scored again and took the lead 3-2. Like all other teams, even Belgium went helter-skelter after conceding three consecutive goals. But they came back when just three minutes were left in the game and scored the equalizer. Then, and only then, there was a penalty shootout and boom, Germany is the winner!

The team work, penetrating passes and even individual dribbling skills were absolutely top class. But I cannot figure out the x-factor. Is it fire in the belly, is it Peillat who scored on penalty corners at the right time, is it methodology, training, grass root culture? I do not know, and I cannot analyze. I am speechless.

In another third-place game, Netherlands exploited Australia’s porous defense and won 3-1.

After watching 24 matches in the stadium and about 16 matches on TV, I should have been hockeyed out. Instead, I am writing this blog at midnight, totally hyped by this crazy tournament. This were my first live hockey matches, first hockey world cup and first news report style blogging. The experience was beyond my wildest dreams. I tried my best not to make it a drab, boring news report, added some spice, some emotions and shared my feelings of an exciting game of hockey. Hopefully you liked it.

Stay tuned for my new adventures! Really really from bottom of my heart, all the best to the USA (which will qualify as the host nation in 2026 Olympics) and India for bright future in hockey! Au Revoir, Tschuss, see you soon!

On the eve of Finals, I want to explain some peculiarities of Hockey rules that you may or may not know. I strongly recommend you to watch the finals.

But before I begin, just a quick update! India finished 9th (along with Argentina) after defeating South Africa 5-2, India’s 5th worst performance in 15 world cup tournaments. Time to refocus, regroup and move on.   

Hockey is a very disciplined and tightly controlled game, unlike soccer where fake injuries, arbitrary extra injury time and few other dramas are “part” of the game. If you have watched hockey, you may or may not have realized some peculiarities of the rules. So, here I go:  

– One is not allowed to push the ball out of the field deliberately. That is a foul. If it happens inside the penalty circle, then one gets a penalty corner. You may have seen the player driving the ball near the baseline. Opponent just cannot push the ball out of the field.

– During the penalty corners, there are four defenders and the goalie. All other defenders are at the fifty-yard line. If the defender (or goalie) can successfully defend and shoot the ball to these players at the fifty-yard line, it creates a very exciting counteroffensive opportunity. Super high-speed attack indeed!

– When the ball is scooped, whoever establishes the position first at the receiving end, gets to control the ball. If the opponent is within 5 meters while the receiving player controls the ball, then there is a foul. Now imagine scooping a ball inside the penalty circle. Either opponent has to clear 5 meters of space or risk a foul (and hence get a penalty corner)

– After a foul is called, if any player touches the ball, there is two-minute suspension, no drama, no pushing the ball, no arguments where the ball should be. (Remember all that stupid extracurricular activity in soccer!)

– One gets 40 seconds to prepare for the penalty corner and 30 seconds to celebrate after scoring the goal. Clock is stopped during this time, as well as during any injury. Nobody has to predict any extra time!

– One need not pass the ball while taking a free hit after the foul or if the ball had gone out of the field. Another smart way to maintain speed of hockey!

– Hockey allows unlimited substitutions (also called rotations). Typically, more than 100 substitutions happen in hockey, thereby creating breathtaking speed in the game. Rotation of course includes substituting goalie with other players or with another goalie. Many teams replace goalie with another player to improve attack if they are behind and time is running out.

– Typically more than 100 rotations happen in hockey, thereby maintaining very high speed of the game. Rotation of course includes substituting goalie with other usual players or with another goalie. India rotates goalies for every quarter. Sorry for taking all of you into the weeds (American term for “going in details”). But I Just thought that you may want to get ready for the Belgium-Germany finals knowing these details. Woohoo!

Weird, very weird, but the “They-Should-Have-Won-It” theme got once again reinforced today. The game and then my blog, both have become very predictable, narrating unpredictable storyline. One team goes ahead by 2 goals. And then it loses, sometimes in the last one minute. Then I write a blog with the same story line, same theme, same adjectives such as “amazing”, unbelievable” and so on and so on. What can I do? I am helpless.

Germany stunned Australia 4-3 (without penalty shootout) and AGAIN wrote a comeback script.  As I had mentioned in the last blog, I started taking notes while watching the game. These European (and Aussie) teams start zonal defense and offense initially. Occasionally they may penetrate individually, but they mostly rely on high-speed passes and centering in the penalty circle. But Germany was aggressive in defense today and attacked Aussie players every time they had a ball, disturbing their rhythm. Then Aussies literally skipped the passes through the midfield and started scooping the ball from defense straight to the players near penalty circle. This kind of chess game is simply not visible on TV (One needs to be in the stadium). There were many switches by individual players from one position to another, sometimes synchronizing with the rotations.  But eventually, Germany scored in less than two minutes to equalize and then scored again with only 5 seconds left. Yes, when freaking only five seconds were left in the game. I am just not sure if any of such goals can be captured through any strategies.

We were talking in the stadium about India’s Pargat Singh’s comeback goal in the 1985 Champions trophy from falling behind 1-4 and then winning against Germany. India scored four goals in the last fifteen minutes in that game. But that comeback was just in one match! And it is happening here in the whole tournament. As I said, the theme is “They-Should-Have-Won-It”.

The other game between Netherlands and Belgium was a classic battle, a very exciting European style of play at the highest level of skills with lots of drama. They eventually tied at 2-2 and Belgium won the shootout (both exactly the same way as in the finals of the last world cup in exactly the same Kalinga stadium.)

Do you know that Germany’s first three goals were scored on penalty corners by Gonzalo Peillat, who was Argentina’s striker until just a couple of years ago. Even as an immigrant myself, I still have this question for all of you as readers: Is it fair for any sportsman, who developed his game in one country, migrates to another country and quickly starts representing them? This is happening in all sports and in fact, in all fields. Who is supposed to represent the nation? I do not know the conclusive answer even to myself. But I certainly rarely watch professional league matches as I perceive that players do not have loyalty, affiliation, attachment and even passion to the team that they represent. That is why in the USA, I just watch college games. I am lucky that as an immigrant I do not have this dilemma. I officially neither represented the USA nor India in anything.

Finally, Indian won against Japan 8-0 in an inconsequential game for 9th to 16th rank. Good news is that India found a way to score, at least in the second half.

Only two more days are left in the tournament. I had never imagined such a crazy tournament even in my wildest dreams. What a World Cup to watch!

If World # 1, 2, 3 and 4 are going to reach the semis, why do we need an elaborate World Cup tournament? (I am just kidding!). Yes, Australia, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany are all in Semis and are ranked in the same order.

The theme of this tournament should have been “They-Should-Have-Won-It” tournament. Another game and another team (probably the fourth or fifth time) lost a two-goal advantage. England was ahead until five minutes remaining in the game and they not only conceded 2 goals, but also the penalty shootout to Germany. Compared to any other previous comebacks of various teams in this world cup, Germany was playing the worst game. They barely reached the penalty circle in the first quarter. There was absolutely zero creativity by them in the circle in finding spaces, finding other team players, doing one’s own dribbling. There was nothing!  But Germany “knows” how to fight back. In just less than five minutes remaining in the game, they got two penalty strokes. They converted one. The England player was suspended for 2 minutes. Germany removed their goalie and introduced another player. And suddenly boom, Germany had a two-player advantage, which they exploited to equalize.    

Germany probably knew England’s goalie’s weak defense on his left-hand side. All shootouts by Germany went to the goalie’s right side with a quick 180 turn around and shoot to the left side. All of them went in.

The Indian women hockey team has that fire in the belly to comeback probably due to their modest upbringing. Even men had incredible comebacks in the Tokyo Olympics. Can that fire in the belly be taught? Even with a mental conditioning coach and training? I suspect not. Who knows? (I am just a fan and a blogger!)

It is funny and sad simultaneously that few of us in the stadium keep talking about how India could have easily won this game and how they would have attacked in that game blah blah blah. It is sad that we are not in the semis! And that sadness will not go away for a while.

I have now watched 18 matches within a short span of time. I have probably developed some ability to spot the strategies, certain culture on the field and certain weaknesses. I have mentioned some of them in my blogs. But I have refrained from going into some specific details. I will try to be a little more specific for semis and Finals. But then if we expect the They-Should-Have-Won-It theme to continue in semis and finals, my plans and analysis will be tossed to the trash cans. Such has been this world cup!

Ps: Photo credit to FIH

While the results of the two quarter finals were as per the expectations, there was a superb drama in the Australia-Spain match that I did not anticipate at all. Right from the beginning, Spain attacked from the right flank with deliberate intensity. Not sure if the Spanish coach saw weakness in Aussie defense or there was something specific in Spanish midfielder Gonzalez’ attack? But it yielded two goals in quick succession for Spain in the second quarter. Woohoo, we got all excited. Will we see the major upset? Oh well, the game is not over until it is over. When one minute was left in the first half, Spain missed a really really easy chance to make it 3-0, and Australia started its counter attacks. They scored 3 goals within 5 minutes in quick succession. And all our hopes of major upset started melting away. When the score was 4-3, believe it or not, Spain got a penalty stroke (sure shot goal opportunity!) when there were just three minutes left in the game. Definite equalizer, then definite penalty shootout and then definite major upset. Well, that scripted upset never happened. Spain missed the penalty stroke and was knocked out of the tournament.  

The Belgium – New Zealand match was really boring to the point that I went for a chai and watched the game on the screen for a while. Top two teams have now marched to the semis. Belgium looks boringly flawless, while Australian defense looks porous, after conceding 8 goals in the tournament.  

Parents of the Spanish defender #24 Ignacio Rodriguez were sitting behind us. We joined in their excitement and agony by screaming along with them, hugging them and waving their flag. Ignacio’s dad mentioned to us that his son has been working hard for long 18 years to be selected in the team. When I told him that parents must have worked very hard too, he had tears in his eyes. Sometime in my life, I want to understand this excitement, agony and pain of the parents of the sportsmen.

I suddenly noticed the Spanish jersey tagged as “Amat” and remembered the “Amat” dynasty of four brothers in Spanish hockey that dominated the world of sports in 80s and 90s. Looks like their children are slowly continuing their mark in in the sports of hockey as well. Why should dynasties be restricted to Kapoors in Bollywood? They happen everywhere.  

Things are coming to a closure very soon. After today’s second set of quarter finals, there are semis and finals. That’s it!

India was stunned by New Zealand and was knocked out of the tournament. Indian skills (dribbling, trapping, scooping, passing) were grade A, speed, stamina and fitness grade A, experience and exposure to international matches grade A, resources and best available coaching staff grade A, and even penalty corner performance until this tournament was grade A. Then how can 5^th ranked India lose to New Zealand (ranked 12^th), which itself was struggling in this tournament?

Why was there a sudden collapse in the last 20 min? Why did we leave defense exposed in NZ’s first two goals? Why not pack the penalty circle with ALL players when leading by two goals? When the entire stadium knew that the ball would be scooped by NZ directly in the penalty area to get the penalty corner (just before the last goal), why was there no one-to-one marking at both ends? Why that crazy shot by Harmanpreet on the verge of winning the shootout? With so many resources poured in, why was there no mental conditioning coach? Why should Hardik’s and Shreejesh’ injuries matter so much? Why the best player award winner of the world Harmanpreet has not been able to score on even one penalty corner out of 25 (one he scored was when the goalkeeper was not present). Why, why, why? There are no answers. Only a devastating knockout! Right here in Bhubaneshwar in a sold-out stadium! This will be the fourth worst performance at best by India in the world cup history!

What could be the answers to the question “why?” Here are my thoughts:

• Pressure to perform at home, especially after a superb Olympics performance. There are so many advertisements on TV “अभी नहीं तो कभी नहीं” (If we do not win now, then we will never win)

• Too much reliance on Penalty corners (PCs) that did not work in this tournament. PCs have not been unsuccessful for many teams in this tournament. Everybody is figuring out the defense against PCs, by sometimes employing very innovative tactics, such as two-men-rush by Korea.

• Lack of mental conditioning coach

• Grass root level mentality to work individually through less passes, compared to the European teams’ mentality.

• Unfortunate challenges such as missing penalty stroke by Harmanpreeet against Spain, whose performance was impacted after that incident, Hardik’s injury, Shreejesh’ injury when he was defending penalty shoot-out well, and pressure of captaincy on Harmanpreet.

some of you may have woken up to Hockey recently. If you remember the golden era of the 1960s, you may blame modern hockey for India’s debacle. If you remember disgusting performances of the 1980s, you may say, “Here we go again!” But what you may not know is that India won Olympics bronze in 2020 with 12 of 18 players still in the team. You may not know that Harmanpreet has been the best player in the world for the last two years due to his amazing penalty corner performance (with 33% efficiency). That is why this loss is inexplicable. I guess it is time to move on.

Except Germany beating France, all other three crossovers went to penalty shootout and were won by the third-place finishers in the pool. Notably, Argentina was knocked out by Korea. Argentina and India knocked out even after leading by two goals in their respective matches. So, now there are eight teams in the quarterfinals. Belgium, England, Netherlands and Australia since they topped the pool, and Spain, Korea, New Zealand and Germany by winning the cross overs. Quarter finals begin today. Have fun (now that there is no pressure to follow India’s performance)!   

Yesterday I was dejected, frustrated and was very very sad. Even this morning, I was groggy, irritated and cranky. But then I went to Chilka Lake for birding. Visiting this heaven is sooo rejuvenating! I am back. But I will still take a day off and start my blog tomorrow please. Not yet in the full chirpy mood I need for my writing. Stay tuned from tomorrow for my daily blog until Hockey Finals.

Hockey had a day off before knockouts start. Obviously, I promptly went on a sightseeing trip to Konark and Puri. It is such a humbling experience, in Konark by experiencing an incredibly progressive society, who had no hesitation in sculpturing explicit sextual scenery on the temple, and in Puri, by seeing masses from all walks of life totally surrendering to the Lord Jagannath. I have also visited Chilka Lake twice and identified 58 bird species with the help of a guide. For me, visiting Chilka at 6 am is like visiting heaven. Period. Life is incredibly busy for me with such travel, 8 hours of watching hockey, watching so many videos, reading so much news and writing reports. And still so much fun!

Anyway, let us get back to our tidbits. 

– I came across Camille and Johanna for the first four days. They must have booked and picked up tickets at the same time as me. Both are from France, studied in the USA and were impressed with the Indian people. It was nice to see them in the news article posted by the CMO office.

– Me and my friend met Rajinder Singh, current US men’s hockey coach and ex-Indian men’s and women’s hockey coach.

–  Do you know that in Penalty Corner, drag flicker hits with the speed of 125-150 kmph, and the defender comes rushing *TOWARDS* the ball. There are not many deaths defying moves other than defending the penalty corners. Watch it carefully next time and feel these crazy hockey balls one of these days. Then you would know!

– India is the only country and Bhubaneshwar is the only city that has hosted consecutive two world cups (2018, 2023)

– Hardik Singh started as a ball boy, Nilam Xess did not have electricity until 2017 and Mumtaz Khan (current sensation of Indian Women Hockey) is a daughter of a vegetable vendor. Story is similar for most other hockey players. I feel frustrated that with far less talent, intelligence, commitment to hard work and passion, I earned far more than these hockey players. When will this change?

– There are brothers all over in the tournament. Paul and Pepe Cunill playing for Spain, Gareth and Rhodri Furlong for Wales and Grambusch brothers for Germany. But there is one more special case. Can you believe that two brothers are competing against each other in the world cup? That is only possible down under in NZ and Australia. Leon Hayward was rejected by Australia, and hence, joined the New Zealand team (his mother is from NZ). Jeremy is playing from Australia.

– Niklas Wellen, forward from Germany became dad just before halftime in the Belgium – Germany match. His coach says that this news is better than even winning the world cup.

– India has 10 players from Punjab, 2 from Odisha, 2 from Haryana and one each from UP, MP, Manipur and Kerala.  

India’s next match is a knockout match with New Zealand on 22-Jan 2023. Here we go again screaming, unfurling the Indian flag, jumping all over! Fun, fun, fun!!!

Today Pool A and B had final league matches. Belgium and Australia reached the quarter finals directly. Korea, Germany, France and Argentina qualified for next round and will play the crossovers with winners reaching quarter finals.  Japan and South Africa were eliminated.

The story of the last round of league matches (in two days) was that there were freaking unbelievable 67 goals scored, including 18 goals by the losers. (Just as a perspective, the losers of the first round of league matches scored only 1 goal). I think, the competition for the pool position opened up the game and the attack played a critical role compared to the defense. There were five hat tricks and Charlet Victor from France emerged as the highest scorer in the tournament with 6 goals. That is unheard of! This is the first ever World Cup by France! Besides, they had a spirited fight with Argentina and drew the game 5-5. Just two days ago, I had praised Argentina as if they ARE the world champion. And today, one of the lowest ranked teams, France, scored five goals against them. Oh well!  

On Sunday knock out matches begin! You win or go home. India plays New Zealand. Bad news is that Hardik is out of the tournament due to injury. I have enclosed the knockout map which shows that if India wins NZ, then they play mighty Belgium. Fun literally begins now!! 

There is an excellent analysis on penalty corners today in the newspaper (Could not figure out which one!). If you love hockey, it is worth reading the article (Credit to my friend Mudit for referring this article to me.)

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.