Two back-to-back Olympic medals have given India the belief that their compact defensive set-up can blunt the edge of all rivals at the 16th Men’s Hockey World Cup that gets underway at the Wagenar Stadium, which never fails to remind Indian teams of a muffed penalty stroke in the title encounter denying them the top prize when the showpiece event was first staged in The Netherlands in 1973.
The aspirations of a podium finish, ignited by the bronze medals of the Olympics at Tokyo and Paris, are downplayed by the team leadership and coaches, yet India go into the quadrennial event hoping for their best show in decades.
A compact defensive unit is what this Indian outfit had been moulded into by coach Craig Fulton, whose tactics famously succeeded when the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian squad clinched a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Far from displaying the dazzling Indians stick-work, Fulton focused on plugging the gaps in the defensive structure that used to fall apart under the pressure exerted by the strong rivals.
India’s defensive structure leans a lot on a sound midfield performance where the seasoned Manpreet Singh falls back to support the deep defence and pairs up well with the aggressive Hardik Singh. The duo provides solidity to the half-line, whose compact play is vital for India’s defences not wilting under the rival onslaught.
Backed by Vivek Sagar Prasad and newcomer Rajinder Singh, the half-line provides a feeling of solidity to raise the confidence of the deep defence as India turn out for the first major event since the retirement of redoubtable custodian PR Sreejesh. The two relatively inexperienced goalkeepers will need tremendous support from the Indian defenders when the rival strikers come out charging.
Fulton believes that his strategy has shaped the epitome of India’s game-plan at the Paris Olympics. “Many experts are not counting us among the favourites, which works fine for us,” says Fulton, asserting that his team does not need the additional pressure and can focus on their game-plan.
Aware that a tottering Indian squad under his charge finished ninth in 2023 World Cup on home soil, captain Harmanpreet Singh too emphasises that his players know their roles and were not under undue pressure.
Harmanpreet carries the immense burden of the focus as the ace shooter with India leaning a lot more on set-piece conversions. With Jugraj Singh, Amit Rohidas and Rajinder now taking a share of the drag-flicking burden, the captain aspires to be more productive.
“The Home of Hockey” screams a hoarding overlooking the practice pitch where the Indian team had a last training session today (Friday) ahead of their opening outing against lowly-ranked Wales in the preliminary Pool D. This soft match leads the way to the tough outings against England (Aug 17) and Pakistan (Aug 19) where Harmanpreet’s men must give an exemplary performance to carry points into the second round-robin league, which has now displaced the quarterfinals.
Two top teams from the preliminary pool will advance to the second round, to which they will carry points from the first round. The top nations in the four second round pools will directly advance to the semifinals.
India faced a huge embarrassment in the 2023 World Cup, played in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, when the Olympic bronze medallists fell in the crossover encounter against New Zealand and failed to make the quarterfinals.