I would have loved to go. The news of India reaching Finals came as a pleasant surprise and tomorrow is the final. Mysteriously they have scheduled the matches so late in the evening that it is very difficult for outside London public to catch any transport option.
Bro,having made decent saves doesn't mean you let in soft one's in.I am also a huge fan of Sreejesh but he has genuinely let in 2 soft goals in today as well.Goal number 2 & 3 were soft.He let in 2 soft goals against Belgium as well.It might be he is rusty as he didn't play in the Azlan Shah but this tournament up till now has been bad for him.Hope he redeems himself in the Final and Olympics.
Also,this has been India's best ever result in Champion's Trophy.We gave managed only 1 medal that was a bronze in 1982.So,Congratulations to the team.
Well, we did give fight to Aussies it seems. They won the champions trophy in the penalty shootout. Didn't watch the game so a review would be helpful.
Before sharing my views, i''d like to clarify,that the reason why i have shared Champions Trophy Details in Road to Rio instead of Other Sports is because i am treating these events as a buildup to Olympics and because Hockey has special feeling attached to it.
Guys,FIRST I'"ll talk about the Match then on its implications for future.
Tournament Level-Germany and India understrength,Belgium,Korea and GBR full strength,Australia (90-95% team).I feel this Olympics could be last for their 4key players (DWYER,Knowles,Deavin and Glenn Turner) so their general level will come down.I am sure with respect to Dwyer(36) and Knowles(35)(both have announced) Deavin and Turner are 32 and 33.Our team is quite young and age wise Sardar Singh will be the oldest player(33 at next Olympics).He currently is 29.So we really have Immense Potential. WOW GUYS!!!!WHAT A MATCH. The most even Match i have seen any team play against Australia in past 2-3 years.In my honest opinion,we were actually the better side over the 4 quarters and i am not exaggerating.We had more possesion,more circle penetrations,they had just 1 more shot than us.
Ideally the match could have gone either way but a draw was actually a fair result in my opinion.We deserved a draw.(like in group game Britain was lucky to get a draw against Australia but we Deserved it)and we were looking more threatening than Australia to score.
This in my view is the best result that India could have hoped for.It is better than a Gold Medal because a Gold would've have meant that we were the best team in the tournament,which actually we weren't.(Australia over the tournament was the best team)
Also,this Silver and more so this performance against Australia on one hand shows that we we can beat any side on any given day while on the other hand it show that we are not perfect and need to work on our game,which actually we need to.A Gold Medal would have made us feel comfortable and everybody in India would have felt that we are the best team in the world which we aren't.However,One thing which this match has done is that it has taken out Australian Hoowah(Fear Factor) from the Indian team.They in my opinion would be more confident.
I remember till 1975 Indian Hockey Teams used to have fear factor,but with Astro turf introduction,India hammered 6 goals against India for the very first time.Thus,Hoowah of Indian team vanished.Similarly,i feel The Australian Bubble would've have busted in the minds of Indian Players.
Also,one more thing which impressed me was,after the match Indian players actually were feeling disgusted about the result and weren't satisfied/happy with a silver.They genuinely thought they couldve won.They were on their knees ,their facial expression was apparent as they felt bad except for Harjeet and Pardeep Mor(had to show their school boy game and school boy attitude and were laughing and were more inclined in shaking hands with Australians and other stuff,Free ka Medal mil gaya,Players like Sardara won't be getting this medal).This means,in general the team is hungry for Success.
I know whenever we speak highly of our Hockey team we generally fall short in return but now this time i genuinely feel(Achhe Din are back for Indian Hockey) and India will be a big Stakeholder at World Level Competitions from now on and this will start at this years Olympics at Rio.
@Bad Actual age of Sardar Singh is much more then 29. I saw him and Ajmer Singh playing in 2004 in stadium and trust me, he was more then 17 at that time.
What a match it was. India was dominating for the larger part and Aussies managed to play only in patches. This is what I was expecting the team to learn from their previous match against Aussies. When you take the game to them play aggressive, they lose the plot. The frustration in them was all visible with so many cards and warnings!
We lacked the finishing. At least thrice we had open goal (relatively, because in hockey you don't get open goal as such) chances but shot wide. Uthhappa continues to be the weak link. We should not have started with him in the SO. That gave us a bad momentum. I feel he wont make the cut for 16-membered squad.
India should have been a penalty stroke in the q1 but ref missed and we had lost referral already. Even the commentators agreed. The possession in Q4 was 80-20 in favour of India. That speaks volumes of the domination we had. So many great interceptions and steals, it wrecked Aussie gameplan. I have rarely seen these boys play with that aggression. Looking forward to Rio
Yesterday i skipped spain match because of this match.. Didn't even change the channel in break time also. In my entire life not even a single time I remember giving priority to other sports than football. Yesterday it was an exception and I feel great watching our boys performance. Henceforth thinking to follow Indian Hockey team matches with #1 priority.
Comments
Also,this has been India's best ever result in Champion's Trophy.We gave managed only 1 medal that was a bronze in 1982.So,Congratulations to the team.
Tournament Level-Germany and India understrength,Belgium,Korea and GBR full strength,Australia (90-95% team).I feel this Olympics could be last for their 4key players (DWYER,Knowles,Deavin and Glenn Turner) so their general level will come down.I am sure with respect to Dwyer(36) and Knowles(35)(both have announced) Deavin and Turner are 32 and 33.Our team is quite young and age wise Sardar Singh will be the oldest player(33 at next Olympics).He currently is 29.So we really have Immense Potential.
WOW GUYS!!!!WHAT A MATCH.
The most even Match i have seen any team play against Australia in past 2-3 years.In my honest opinion,we were actually the better side over the 4 quarters and i am not exaggerating.We had more possesion,more circle penetrations,they had just 1 more shot than us.
Ideally the match could have gone either way but a draw was actually a fair result in my opinion.We deserved a draw.(like in group game Britain was lucky to get a draw against Australia but we Deserved it)and we were looking more threatening than Australia to score.
This in my view is the best result that India could have hoped for.It is better than a Gold Medal because a Gold would've have meant that we were the best team in the tournament,which actually we weren't.(Australia over the tournament was the best team)
Also,this Silver and more so this performance against Australia on one hand shows that we we can beat any side on any given day while on the other hand it show that we are not perfect and need to work on our game,which actually we need to.A Gold Medal would have made us feel comfortable and everybody in India would have felt that we are the best team in the world which we aren't.However,One thing which this match has done is that it has taken out Australian Hoowah(Fear Factor) from the Indian team.They in my opinion would be more confident.
I remember till 1975 Indian Hockey Teams used to have fear factor,but with Astro turf introduction,India hammered 6 goals against India for the very first time.Thus,Hoowah of Indian team vanished.Similarly,i feel The Australian Bubble would've have busted in the minds of Indian Players.
Also,one more thing which impressed me was,after the match Indian players actually were feeling disgusted about the result and weren't satisfied/happy with a silver.They genuinely thought they couldve won.They were on their knees ,their facial expression was apparent as they felt bad except for Harjeet and Pardeep Mor(had to show their school boy game and school boy attitude and were laughing and were more inclined in shaking hands with Australians and other stuff,Free ka Medal mil gaya,Players like Sardara won't be getting this medal).This means,in general the team is hungry for Success.
I know whenever we speak highly of our Hockey team we generally fall short in return but now this time i genuinely feel(Achhe Din are back for Indian Hockey) and India will be a big Stakeholder at World Level Competitions from now on and this will start at this years Olympics at Rio.
We lacked the finishing. At least thrice we had open goal (relatively, because in hockey you don't get open goal as such) chances but shot wide. Uthhappa continues to be the weak link. We should not have started with him in the SO. That gave us a bad momentum. I feel he wont make the cut for 16-membered squad.
India should have been a penalty stroke in the q1 but ref missed and we had lost referral already. Even the commentators agreed. The possession in Q4 was 80-20 in favour of India. That speaks volumes of the domination we had. So many great interceptions and steals, it wrecked Aussie gameplan. I have rarely seen these boys play with that aggression. Looking forward to Rio