World Cup: Why did India men’s team choke when it mattered the most?

The knives are expectedly out for Indian men’s team after they were knocked out of the semi-final race with a 3-5 defeat to Argentina as the business end of FIH World Cup hockey is about to get underway. Heartbreaking for the Indian fans as it might be, it was not altogether unexpected—though one thought they had it in them to at least beat one of the higher ranked teams in the tournament.

While the simultaneous hosting of men and women’s World Cups mean the performance of the latter tends to get overshadowed, it’s Selima Tete’s spunky girls who showed more heart in their performance. A year after their relegation from the Pro League, an younger lot (the squad featured as many as 11 debutants) looked fitter with no stage fright—their only loss coming against Olympic champions The Netherlands while they held England and Australia to goalless draws.

Yes, neither teams are going to have a shot at the semi-finals and believe me it had nothing to do with the orange shirts they played with! Post mortem has already begun with the likes of former goalkeeping legend P.R. Sreejesh demanding accountability from the two overseas head coaches (Craig Fulton and Sjoerd Marijne for men and women, respectively) while some are rallying for blooding younger players in the squad immediatel

This is where Hockey India, which has it’s hands full with problems off the turf, needs to avoid any knee jerk reaction. A look at the men’s team track record shows the last time they made the semi-finals was 51 years back when they won the World Cup in 1975—which betrays a propensity to choke in this tournament. No disrespect meant, but the expectations were perhaps a bit too high from Harmanpreet & Co as they had finished eighth in the last FIH Pro League earlier this year, managing just four wins from 16 matches.

Just ponder this—they have conceded 16 goals in five matches at this World Cup (with one match still to go), their worst defensive record since 2010, of which 12 came from open play. If defensive frailty was the most glaring drawback on their part, the squad looked slow on the uptake to counter the speed of the rivals while their tactic also looked predictable. If one needed India to go all guns blazing in a must-win game against Argentina, they lost the plot after conceding two goals within the opening six minutes.

For those tracking the performance of this bunch closely since Tokyo 2020, there had been a marked deterioration in their quality of holding the defensive shape and the quick counterattacks. The excessive square or diagonal passes which they played in the build-up—instead of going vertical which is the mantra in football as well—led them to hitting roadblocks against tactically astute teams.

A re-set of the men’s team is certainly required in due course, but nothing drastic can be done ahead of the Asian Games as the squad lists had been already submitted to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for accreditation and other formalities. The need of the hour is soul searching rather than harsh criticism of the men, most of whom were instrumental in bringing about a serious resurgence of interest in the sport with back-to-back Olympic bronze medals. 

Sreejesh, very much a soul of the team till Paris 2024, pulled back no punches when he said on his X post: ‘’...Here’s the uncomfortable question: Are we building a team to PLAY good hockey, or a team capable of WINNING against the best in the world?’’

‘’Stop hiding behind ‘learning’, ‘good hockey’ and future tournaments. The World Cup is not a rehearsal. It is the World Cup. So who is going to ask the difficult questions? Who is going to demand accountability? And most importantly...Does anyone actually care?’’ he asked.

Point taken, but Sreejesh himself had been a part of four World Cup campaigns to know better. Or is his angst against the Hockey India ecosystem, of which he was a part as junior India coach till the other day? May be, it’s not the time to settle personal scores!