As the dust settles on the Men’s Hockey World Cup, I’ve put together a few bits and pieces from the latter stages of the tournament to round things off and hopefully give a little insight into what I’m thinking now all’s said and done. Enjoy.
Never write off the Germans.
There’s a saying in sport “never write off the Germans”. And yet, a lot of people did. Me included. They weren’t in my top three in my pre-tournament predictions and they’ve made that look very silly indeed.
In his interview after the final Christopher Ruhr said his side “played an amazing German competition”. He’s right. They won the games they needed to, turned it on when they had to and have won the World Cup for a record equalling fourth time. Very Germany indeed. Fair enough, really.
Immortality.
Michel Struthoff has etched his name into the annals of the history of German hockey. No matter what he does or doesn’t do from here in his career, he’ll always be the man who scored the winner in a World Cup Final. I bet that feels pretty cool.
(Good advantage played by the umpire on this goal, btw.)
The Dark Horse.
Spare a thought for Spain. They’ve done brilliantly to get to the final, knocking out both hosts, Belgium and the Netherlands on their way. The way they punished the Dutch when they went down to ten men was an absolute masterclass.
Max Caldas showed one again what a terrific coach he is, and plenty of their players showed what they are all about on the world stage. I picked them as my dark horse before the tournament began and they more than lived up to that billing.
A costly card.
Speaking of the Dutch going down to ten men, that might be the most costly card we see in a World Cup. Yes Duco Telgenkamp was provoked by Xavier Gispert celebrating in his face. However, reacting and getting himself sent off with the game at 1-1, with just over 11 minutes to go was very silly. Spain capitalised, scoring a minute after Netherlands were reduced to ten men. Then again, a minute later, then four minutes after that. Devastating from Spain and devastating for Telgenkamp as he watched on from the naughty step. Some would say it’s payback for his antics towards Jean-Paul Danneberg after the Olympic final. Whatever you think, it was VERY costly.
Dutch Disappointment Part 2.
It wasn’t just the Dutch Women who ended the tournament in disappointment. Having looked well set for a medal, the men ended up going home empty handed after a surprising semi-final defeat by Spain and a loss to Argentina in the bronze medal match. Not what they signed up for and they will see it as a failure.
The World Cup of s***housery?
As discussed above, Xavier Gispert played a big part in getting Telgenkamp sent off. We had some needle between Pakistan and Wales in the group stages. Ammad Butt tripping Suhkjeet Singh during Pakistan vs India. Australians celebrating in the faces of English players after blocking a shot. Tim Brand taking out Henry Croft off the ball. I’m sure there were more I haven’t listed here, too. It feels like there were a lot of examples of little bits and pieces of “housery” all over the place. I quite like a bit of needle and I quite like a little bit of, shall we say, “stretching the rules” now and again. It adds a little something to the matches for me. A little bit of edge.
England’s nearly men.
It’s hard to know what to make of England’s campaign. Some obvious highs – winning three from three in the pool, including a superb win over India. Going toe-to-toe with the Netherlands in their own back yard and scoring some great goals with some superb play. However, they’ll know they didn’t do themselves justice in the game against Argentina, which ultimately cost them a chance at a medal. Both Phil Roper and Ollie Payne expressed their disappointment in post-tournament interviews and it’s hard to disagree.
Including this one, England’s most recent World Cup placings are 6th, 5th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 5th. They are undoubtedly a really talented side, but they have to find a way to step up from “nearly men” to the podium.
So there you have it. Hopefully some food for thought and hopefully you’ve got something out of this article. I’m off for a lay down in preparation for the new domestic season!
The Top of the D 