Who should you keep an eye out for? Who has a medal chance? Who has no chance? Today, we take a look at the teams contesting Men’s Pool B in the Olympic Hockey Competition.
Argentina
Head Coach: Mariano Ronconi
Player to watch:
Macio Casella – Nominated for the 2019 FIH Rising Star Award, it’s fair to say this creative and clever forward knows how to find the net. He’s bagged 96 goals in 134 appearances for Los Leones. His goals could help Argentina back up onto the podium.
A bit about Argentina:
The Olympic champions from Rio 2016 are back to have another crack at winning a medal. The 15-time Pan American champions will be looking to mix it with the best as they have done in the FIH Pro League. They finished fourth this time around in the Pro League – above the likes of India, Spain and Belgium. They have plenty of attacking flair in the side, and it’s great to see London 2012 Olympian Agustin Mazzilli still going strong in the squad. English hockey fans will no doubt be aware that first choice goalkeeper Tomas Santiago played for Havant Hockey Club in 2016-2017 season. Anyway, niche English hockey knowledge aside, Argentina’s aggressive and attacking style will cause plenty of teams problems.
Squad: Tomás Santiago, Juan Catán, Maico Casella, Lucas Toscani, Nicolás Della Torre, Santiago Tarazona, Federico Monja, Tomas Domene, Matías Rey, Lucas Martínez, Agustín Mazzilli, Tadeo Marcucci, Thomas Habif, Agustín Bugallo, Bautista Capurro, Iñaki Minadeo.
Reserves: Nehuén Hernando (GK), Tobías Martins, Nicolás Keenan
Australia
Head Coach: Colin Batch
Player to watch:
Eddie Ockenden.
One of the greatest players hockey has ever seen. He’s 36 years old, going into his fifth Olympics, looks like he’s going to be Australia’s flag bearer and if he plays every game up to and including the quarter final he’ll draw level with Teun de Nooijer with the second most appearances of all time in men’s hockey. He’s one of just seven players in the history of men’s hockey to have made more than 400 international appearances, he’s a two time world champion, I could go on but you get the idea by now.
A bit about Australia:
Booked their ticket with a 2-1 series win over New Zealand in the Oceania Cup and they come into the Olympics off the back of winning the FIH Pro League.
A hugely talented team capable of out playing sides or if necessary, out fighting them, the level of quality in the group is very high indeed.
Former Wimbledon striker Blake Govers has 147 international goals in 161 games and so will be feared from penalty corners. Jake Whetton’s experience and ability will come in handy and in Matt Dawson they have a player willing to do anything for the cause. If you doubt that, you should probably know he’s had some of his ring finger amputated in order to make the squad. He definitely wants to win this tournament! They haven’t won this competition since Athens 2004 so will feel they are long overdue that gold medal.
Squad: Lachlan Sharp, Thomas Craig, Corey Weyer, Jake Harvie, Tom Wickham, Matthew Dawson, Joshua Beltz, Eddie Ockenden, Jacob Whetton, Blake Govers, Aran Zalewski, Ky Willott, Flynn Ogilvie, Tim Brand, Andrew Charter, Jeremy Hayward.
Reserves: Nathan Ephraums, Tim Howard, Johan Durst (GK).
Belgium
Head Coach: Michel van den Heuvel
Player to watch:
Alexander Hendrickx.
The top goal scorer at the last Olympics with 14 goals – double the next highest in the list, it’s fair to say that Alexander Hendrickx has a big part to play in Belgium defending their title. Don’t get me wrong, they have loads of good players but there’s nothing harder than scoring a goal – and this guy scores goals. Any penalty corner is a red alert for Hendrickx’s opponents. As he’s a specialist drag-flicker I’ve seen him accused of being a one-trick pony (I don’t agree with that) but if you decide that’s true, it’s one hell of a trick. He is vital to their chances.
A bit about Belgium:
What can you say about Belgium?! They’ve won every major honour within the last decade: World Cup (2018), Olympic Games (2021), European Championship (2019) and FIH Hockey Pro League (2020-21). They almost won the World Cup again in 2023, losing on shootout in the final to Germany. Their big match pedigree can’t be doubted.
Tom Boon still knows how to score goals, Florent van Aubel is a wonderful player. Then you have the experience of Felix Denayer, Arthur van Doren (multiple time World Player of the Year) Vincent Vanasch (multiple time World Goalkeeper of the Year) and of course John-John Dohmen who is closing in on 500 international appearances. Yes. 500.
Experience, talent in abundance, the knowhow to win big tournaments and one of the best penalty corner flickers around. Belgium are a serious threat.
Squad: Thibeau Stockbroekx, Arthur Van Doren, John-John Dohmen, Florent van Aubel, Gauthier Boccard, Nicolas De Kerpel, Alexander Hendrickx, Félix Denayer, Vincent Vanasch, Arthur De Sloover, Antoine Kina, Loïck Luypaert, Victor Wegnez, Tom Boon, Nelson Onana, Arno Van Dessel
Reserves: Cédric Charlier, Maxime Van Oost, Loic Van Doren (GK)
India
Head Coach: Craig Fulton
Player to watch:
Harmanpreet Singh:
He won FIH Player of the Year in both 2021 and 2022. He scored 6 goals at the last Olympics, including one in the bronze medal match. He scored 18 times in the FIH Pro League in 2021-22, 16 times in 2022-23 and 12 times in 2023-24. I’ve said many times that set-pieces could be the difference between success and failure and so Harmanpreet will be relied on to give India the edge with his penalty corners.
A bit about India:
India have won the gold medal eight times at the Olympics, although not since 1980 have they climbed to the top of the podium. Indeed, their bronze medal at the last Olympics was their first medal at the Games since that win in Moscow.
Expectations are always high for the India men’s hockey team and their fans will be expecting big things from them at this tournament, despite a disappointing FIH Pro league (finished 7th out of 9 teams.)
I’ve already mentioned the danger posed by Harmanpreet from penalty corners but they are by no means just a set piece side. They have a lot of talent in the ranks, two-time FIH Hockey Stars Goalkeeper of the Year PR Sreejesh, Manpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh to name just three players who will catch the eye with their performances in this competition.
Former Ireland coach Craig Fulton will be hoping to mastermind them making it onto the podium again and with the talent at his disposal, it’s a very realistic possibility.
Squad: Jarmanpreet Singh, Abhishek, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, P. R. Sreejesh, Sumit Walmiki, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Amit Rohidas, Vivek Prasad, Sukhjeet Singh
Reserves: Nilakanta Sharma, Jugraj Singh, Krishan Pathak (GK)
Ireland
Head Coach: Mark Tumilty
Player to watch:
Davey Harte.
One of the best goalkeepers around. The giant from County Cork is an absolute brick wall under the bar. He’s been the first choice at Kampong – one of the top sides in the Dutch league for over a decade now. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 EuroHockey Championships with Ireland and has won World Goalkeeper of the Year twice. Oh and with Kampong he’s won the Dutch title and the EHL. Quite the CV. As a player, he’s very agile for a man of his size, his reflexes are ridiculous and he makes the big saves in the big moments. With Ireland likely to spend a fair bit of time on the back foot, Harte’s performances will be crucial to keeping them in games.
A bit more about Ireland:
Ireland held their nerve in the qualifiers to beat Korea 4-3 in an absolute thriller and book their place at the Paris games.
Having narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, the men’s team last competed at the Rio Olympics. Two of that squad are back for the Paris Olympics, goalkeeper David Harte and Shane O’Donoghue.
Ireland finished bottom of the FIH Pro League this time around but they did show flashes of what they can do with two wins over Belgium (2-1 and 4-1). Keep an eye out for the penalty corner threat of Lee Cole, whilst Shane O’Donoghue is still a top class player. Ireland will rely on their spirit and togetherness as well as making themselves hard to break down, you will not find a more determined group in this competition.
Squad: David Harte, Tim Cross, John McKee, Matthew Nelson, Daragh Walsh, Kyle Marshall, Shane O’Donoghue, Sean Murray, Peter McKibbin, Jeremy Duncan, Michael Robson, Benjamin Walker, Peter Brown, Lee Cole, Ben Johnson, Nick Page.
Reserves: Alistair Empey, Jonny Lynch, Jamie Carr (GK)
New Zealand
Head Coach: Greg Nicol
Player to watch:
Simon Child.
This one is a bit of a sentimental pick for me. Simon Child is one of New Zealand’s greatest of all time and a player I have a lot of time for. He made his debut in 2005 and is just four short of their all time scoring record.
Paris will be his fourth Olympic Games after being part of the sides in Beijing, London, and Rio. He took a break from playing after Rio to work in commercial property investment but now he’s back – and plenty of the old magic is there!
A bit more about New Zealand:
New Zealand hockey is undergoing a bit of a transition right now. Covid and a lack of funding really set the Blacksticks back and their side has a look of young and older and not much in between. Don’t get me wrong, there are some quality players in there, not least Sam Lane who’s done well for Oranje Rood in the Hoofdklasse, Child, Jacob Smith and Kane Russell to name a few. They won the recent FIH Nations Cup – securing a passage back to the Pro League and of course at the 2023 World Cup they held their nerve to beat India on shootout to progress to the quarter finals. So the performances against good teams are there on occasion. Let’s see how many of those they can stitch together at this competition.
Squad: Dominic Dixon, Scott Boyde, Dane Lett, Simon Child, Charlie Morrison, Jacob Smith, Samuel Lane, Simon Yorston, Nicholas Woods, Joseph Morrison, Kane Russell, Blair Tarrant, Sean Findlay, Hugo Inglis, Hayden Phillips, Isaac Houlbrooke
Reserves: Malachi Buschl, Leon Hayward (GK), Bradley Read
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