Hockey World Cup 2023: German solidity triumphs; India's long holdup for medal persists
Hockey World Cup 2023: Germany has won the tournament and has lifted the title for the third time. Meanwhile, as India continues its long wait for a medal, here's what's next for the hosts.
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FollowIn a World Cup of high-quality hockey, the German "culture of resilience" triumphed, ending Belgium's five-year reign as the most successful team. At the same time, host India's nearly five-decade-long wait for a medal continued. The Germans made another stunning comeback from a two-goal deficit to beat defending champions Belgium 5-4 in a penalty shootout of a classic summit clash. The two sides were locked 3-3 in the regulation time of 60 minutes on Sunday. It was the third time in the showpiece that Germany had won after trailing 0-2, and its fabled mental strength and never-say-die attitude came to the fore again. It had done so against England in the quarterfinals and against Australia in the semifinals.
Germany joined Australia and Netherlands to have clinched the World Cup title three times. Only Pakistan has won the World Cup four times. Germany's earlier triumphs came in 2002 and 2006. It was the runner-up in 1982 and 2010 and finished sixth and fifth in the 2014 and 2018 editions, respectively.
The triumph also took Germany to the top of FIH world rankings from the pre-tournament fourth place. "This triumph is incredible. I don't have any words to describe this feat. We came back from 0-2 down in the quarterfinals, semifinals and now in the final. You cannot now say it is luck. It is due to the quality of this team. We believe we can win this World Cup," German coach Andre Henning said after his side's first title win since 2006.
The Netherlands, which had finished runner-up in the last two editions, clinched its fourth straight medal after beating Australia 3-1 in the bronze play-off. It also won a bronze in the 2010 edition. For Australia, this was the first time it returned home without a medal after it finished fourth in the 1998 edition. It won a bronze in the last edition.
German striker Niklas Wellen, who scored a last-minute goal against Australia in the semifinals and another in the final, was fittingly named player of the tournament. He was also the joint third-highest scorer with seven strikes, sharing the position with Netherlands captain Thierry Brinkman. Australia's Jeremy Hayward emerged as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals in six matches, while Tom Boon of Belgium, Victor Charlet of France and Jip Janssen of Netherlands were joint second with eight goals each.
Belgium had started its 'incredible journey' as the world's best side by winning the 2018 World Cup at the same Kalinga Stadium where the Germans beat it on Sunday. The Belgians won the Tokyo Olympics title after that. Their coach, Michel van den Heuvel, had used the term 'German culture of resilience' in the pre-final press conference and warned his players of the enormous mental strength of their opponents, but, in the end, they could not find a way to deal with it.
"It is disappointing not to have won this World Cup. But we are proud of this group which has done incredibly well in the last few years. Every opponent had been looking for opportunities and ways to win against us these years. Now, it is our turn to try and find an answer in the next one and a half years," van den Heuvel said.
Belgium and Netherlands will co-host the next HWC in 2026, and under tournament rules, both countries have already qualified for the showpiece. Overall, it was a high-quality HWC with no clear favourites. The four semifinalists and England, who lost to eventual champions Germany in a penalty shootout in the quarterfinals, could have beaten any side on their day.
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For India, though, it was yet another disappointment in its second consecutive home HWC as it made a shock exit before the quarterfinals stage. If the Germans made it a habit of coming back from 0-2 down to win the World Cup, it was the opposite for India as the hosts, ranked sixth in the world, squandered a two-goal advantage to lose to New Zealand, six places below them in world rankings, in the penalty shootout in their crossover match.
With crores of rupees spent on training, exposure tours and support staff salaries, this team would have done better and reached the quarterfinals, if not the semifinals. In the end, this was India's fifth worst place in all the 15th editions of the HWC the country has participated in. India had finished below ninth on four occasions -- in 1986 (12th), 1990 (10th), 2002 (10th) and 2006 (11th).
It finished ninth in 1998 and 2014 also. India crashed out in the quarterfinal of the home HWC in 2018. Two main reasons for India's debacle were the abysmal rate of penalty corner conversions and the lack of finishing by the forwards. To this should be added the inconsistency in defending.
India, whose last HWC medal came in 1975 when it won gold in Kuala Lumpur, did beat Spain (2-0) and drew goalless with England but could only win with a 4-2 margin against minnows Wales that cost the home team a top place finish in its pool, which would have taken it directly to the quarterfinals.
Head coach Graham Reid later admitted that a home HWC brought extra pressure to the players, which was sometimes difficult to process, and stressed the need for the team to have a mental conditioning coach. This HWC, participated by 16 teams, turned out to be the highest-scoring one in all of the 15th editions, with an average of 5.66 goals per match. The tournament saw 249 goals being scored in 44 games; 143 were field goals, while 94 and 12 came from penalty corners and penalty strokes, respectively.
The 2010 HWC in New Delhi, participated by 12 teams, had 199 goals from 38 matches, at an average of 5.24 per game. The penalty corner conversion rate went down drastically, with most of the teams defending the PCs much better than earlier. On the organisational front, Odisha rolled out the best-ever facilities in an HWC. The 21,000-capacity Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela was added as a co-host venue along with the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The Birsa Munda Stadium was declared by the world governing body FIH as the largest all-seater hockey-specific venue in the world. HWC Village was introduced as all the participating teams were housed in a five-star level accommodation run by the Taj Group inside the Birsa Munda Stadium complex.
"This is one of the best World Cups ever, one of the best events in international hockey. It was a great experience for the local population, participating teams, and athletes," FIH chief Ikram Tayyab said. However, players and officials of participating teams were more effusive than Tayyab in praise of the tournament organisers, saying that this World Cup has set a benchmark with the facilities it rolled out, which will be challenging to match in future editions.
(With inputs from PTI)
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