Indian team could not repeat the success of Olympics in the World Cup, need to introspect
Bhubaneswar. The hopes raised by the bronze medal won after 41 years at the Tokyo Olympics collapsed once again in the World Cup and the Indian team could not even reach the quarter-finals of the tournament in its host. The wait that has been going on for five decades in the World Cup continues and now the coach, team management and every player will have to introspect before the Paris Olympics 2024. Crores of rupees have been spent on the team’s practice, foreign tours and salaries of the support staff. With fans standing in long queues in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela to buy tickets, the audience glued to their televisions was also heartbroken by the performance. The eight-time Olympic gold medalist team has won the World Cup just once, in 1975. This was India’s fifth worst performance in the 15 World Cups held so far.
India has finished ninth four times but this time there were 16 teams playing in the tournament. India finished 12th in 1986, 10th in 1990, 10th in 2002 and 11th in 2006. Apart from this, in 1998 and 2014 also remained at the ninth position. In 2018, the team had reached the quarter-finals in Bhubaneswar, but this time they were eliminated before that. While Germany came back from a two-goal deficit, the Indian team lost the crossover match against New Zealand after leading by two goals. New Zealand took the match to a penalty shootout and won. The weakest link in India’s performance was the penalty corners. The forward line could not create chances and the defense looked in disarray. Spain in the group stage 2. After a 0-0 defeat, India played out a goalless draw against England, dashing their hopes of making it directly to the quarter-finals.
After this against a weak team like Wales 4. Could register victory from 2 only. Coach Graham Reid has admitted that playing the World Cup at home has put extra pressure on the players and the team needs a mental conditioning coach. Germany, on the other hand, broke Belgium’s dominance and showed that success comes to those who do not succumb to pressure, winning the final in a penalty shoot-out from two goals down. The German team, which defeated England in the quarter-finals and Australia in the semi-finals, won the World Cup for the third time (after 2002 and 2006), equaling the Netherlands and Australia.
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Pakistan has won the title the most four times. Australia has returned empty handed for the first time since 1998. The next World Cup will be held in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2026, and as per the rules of the tournament, both teams have qualified. In this World Cup, 249 goals were scored in 44 matches, of which 143 were field goals. The Odisha government built the world’s largest state-of-the-art Birsa Munda Stadium which can seat 21000 spectators. For the first time a sports village was built in the World Cup. Odisha has once again attracted the attention of the world in hockey due to its success at the hosting level.
