Compare this to our cricketers (read celebrities) where people 'wet their pants' (to quote Soumitra Goswami) even when India is beaten by Bangladesh (2007 WC)! - On the other side, I personally feel that India played against AUS and ESP too defensively and focussed less on winning and more on not loosing. Had they attacked from the onset like they did against PAK, things would have been different. By playing defensively, they only emboldened the opponents. With their capability as seen in PAK match, they were capable of playing an attacking game in all the matches, especially against ESP. More importantly, the reason for their losses was bad preparation not their inability.
BUT above all, I certainly do not see any reason to be discouraged and trust Brasa's words that India will count among the top hockey nations in a few months time. P.S: Though I have nothing against cricket, there is no comparision between the entertainment value hockey offers and the boredom that cricket MOSTLY offers. After all, you can't call it a sport when players play it in sweaters/pullovers!
Some of the comments on the Indian hockey team apparently stem from people who have either no knowledge of international hockey or are seeing the hocket team play only now in the last few days. Whatever the results say, fact is that Brasa's broad assessment is correct. These are not excuses but facts: -India is not playing as badly as the scores would suggest. I myself have played competitve hockey in Germany and have been following Indian hockey and have even watched their live matches in the last twenty years when they toured Europe. - Their discipline and fitness has in fact improved vastly in recent years. - The way hockey is administered in India is a big negative factor. I remember one former India player of yesteryear making a remark to me in Holland in 1998 ''these bureaucrats have f...ked up the game!'' - In India the hockey players earn their livelihood from the game..so the way they are handled/paid clearly reflects in their performances. I mean you can't expect them to be in the best of mental and physical form when they go through such incidents of having to fight for their dues, etc. just before a World Cup. Foreign players do not come to events like World Cup / Olypics with unnecessary tensions and unresolved issues like our teams do. - Do you know what our hockey players are paid when they tour abroad? In 2001, a very well known former player's own words were ''14 dollars'' (Rs. 650 at todays rate). contd....
We shouldnot Expect More than capacity from indian hockey team. as india's ranking is 12 at the start of WC and the performance of indian hockey team is much better than expectation. There is lots of improvement in performance of indian hockey team after renovation of Superiors of Indian Hockey. Definetly India will be the winner of NEXT WC of 2014.
I dont know who ever the caretaker of Hockey India (Must be some Singh) . They need to know one thing Just by crying foul that cricket is taking over other sports will not solve the issue . Remember Cricket took off when there was some inspirational performance from gavaskar,kapil dev and sachin . So other sports like hockey needs to pull off some inspirational performance to get the spotlight back. Last Night, One of the worst performance by the team , Spain was just fooling and toying with India . India had no answers for the pspain attack
Re: Wake Up Singh
by Sukhwinder Singh on Mar 05, 2010 01:41 PM
It was not as bad as you are saying. Indians played equally well though they missed lots of chances. Coach is right in saying that Spain, England are of India Level.
yesterday i was very excited before the play but slowly and gradually i lost interest in game and now i lost complete interest in hockey, i will better watch only cricket.
Re: india
by s sethi on Mar 05, 2010 01:09 PM
At least u r honest & admit u r not interested any more. Others wake up only when something sensational happens like win against pak and expect miracles.
Re: Re: india
by s on Mar 05, 2010 10:31 PM
everything is right,but we should never forget HOcky is our national gmae,most of d pepole are watching it only because it is world cup,else how many tours or comptetions of hocky people watch?There should a change in people too for hocky to survive in india
Indian mass is fool. They watch Cricketlike race course, fortunately our player delivers on their gambles where as hockey, soccer which is more absorbing are ignored. The media is more horrendous. They create so much hype that half of the pant is wet before the game starts. Soccer may not recahed international mark but hockey India is very much comatiable. I feel pity in such rigorous a sport viz. being hals bent for more than one hours our players need to take drastic action to get their due forget over the boon like cricketers. I appeal to Inida mass to support for hockey by watching more on TV and ground so that our blood suckers indusrty barons get attraction to advertise. In many sport Indian physique is not compatiable but Hockey, footbal it can easyly happen if due recognistion is given. Come support our players to do more instead of bashing them.
Re: Choke de India
by pratik nidhi bhardwaj. on Mar 05, 2010 12:55 PM
vattai, dont tell shame on india,write hockey team of india.India is our motherland.WE all indians love our motherland.So shame on hockey team of india
Re: Re: Choke de India
by s sethi on Mar 05, 2010 01:04 PM
Ask vettaikaran where was the goalkeeper from. He made a mess of the first goal that was conceded. looked like a junior in the whole match & unsure of what he was doing. Why we havent found a class goalkeeper after Baljit. No replacement for Jugraj. Only Sandeep, even if he is not the same level.
Let us not pull the team when they are down. They are after all the No12 team in the world but showed better organisation and composure then many Indian teams immediately prior. Sure they can build on this to improve from No 12 in this tournament itself and we should give them full support. Chak De India!
