By V. Ashok

I had this feeling of jealousy watching the final of the just concluded men’s hockey World Cup, last Sunday.

The  match between German and Belgium was almost a perfect game with all the ingredients needed – flawless performance, free flow attacking, solid defending, less mistakes, full of power and entertaining.

When the titanic battle ended, with the Germany side emerged as the new champion of the 15th edition in Bhubaneswar, India, I  start dreaming – one day our own national side can at least come close to that level.

But, to be fair our Speedy Tigers did their best and gave a signal can progress further with the right attitude – just like they did against Spain in the second round, crossover match, taking the risk to play high intensity game and going for attack with strong long passes.

This is the type of performance we should repeat consistently at the world stage when our team nearly beat one of the European top sides to reach the quarter finals. What a show, never seen for a long time.

Let’s forget our lost to South Africa in the classification match which was the most painful result in these ‘weird’ tournament format.  It was just not our day. The players too failed to rise when it matters the most. But, the overall performances and statistics in six matches suggest otherwise.

For the record, South Africa lost all their three group matches but beat Malaysia and ended being above us in the final ranking at 11.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) President, Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said the format did not do justice to our national team who finished second in Group C.

“We can’t do much but I call upon FIH to relook at the format. I don’t think it’s a good format,” he was quoted saying in a leading national daily.

He also added, we don’t deserve the 13th spot after our boys showed they could match and trouble the best teams.

Coach Arulselvaraj has a big mission to handle the Speedy Tigers for gold medal hunt in Asian Games, this year. – PIC COURTESY OF FIH/MHC

Still, this was our best outing since the 2002 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur with three wins, one draw and two losses. In the 2014  and 2018 editions we came back home miserably,  failing to win any matches.

 So, on that count, it’s  a creditable achievement this month.

The next important step is to qualify again for the 2026 World Cup and maintain the target to qualify for the quarter finals – a realistic target to set on a brave note.

 Please, it’s also time to forget the historic moment created by our 1975 squad as we are still lagging far behind the super powers.

With the likes of Germany, Belgium, Holland and Australia dominating the World Cup and the Olympics Games,  I  don’t think we are ready to emulate the top four finish by our national side, 47 years ago. Sorry to say, it’s a distance dream. Let’s go for a top eight first.

These hockey powers  will continue to dominate the world stage as ‘Big Four’ for a long time and will be among the favourites for the 2024 Olympics title in Paris. Gritty Argentina is another side worth mentioning to win the gold like they did in 2016 Games in Brazil.

These teams are well composed and much more to our delight with their wonderful stick work  – the same act that reminds the hockey fans of the former greats like India and Pakistan when the Asian giants showed their supremacy on the grass pitch in the 70s.

German demonstrated nicely how hockey matches can be won when under pressure. They were trailing 0-2 against the titles holders, Belgium before making another come back in the tournament to level 3-3 and won the title for the third time after penalty shootout, 5-4 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

This was a world class performance by a champion on the day it matters the most for them. Our ‘Speedy Tigers’ should learn to be inspired by the display of a nearly perfect hockey game by the solid Germany side.

Belgium – a team once on par with Malaysia – are the most improved and entertaining side right now.

 We have beaten them several times before but now the gap is so huge to chase.

For A Arulselvaraj boys, the challenges are mounting and only more hard work with a mentality of winning matches may change the landscape of hockey in the country.

Time has come to prove we can form a much stronger side and this will be timely for 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China from September 23 till October 8.

The Speedy Tigers need to roar more to overcome the obstacles from  the usual suspects like India, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan and even China to win the elusive  gold medal for an automatic qualification to the Olympics Games in Paris.

The team management would likely to inject some new blood with promising players from the current Junior World Cup squad to have a bigger pool of players.

We had that big numbers during the tenure of Paul Lissek as the head coach. The German ‘master tactician’ did blend well the seniors and juniors to form a side that did not surrender easily to any top teams in the world.

That was the era we saw players like Mirnawan Nawawi, Nor Saiful Zaini, Maninderjit Singh, Ramu Shankar, S Kuhan, Brian Jayhan Siva, Calvin Fernandez,  to name a few, made up the core of the team with the juniors – K Keevan Raj, Chua Boon Huat, K Logan Raj, Jiwa Mohan fitting in nicely into the senior team set-up.

Malaysia was a top contender in field hockey in the late 1980s and 90s. When the National Sports Council and MHC decided to offer Lissek as a consultant, three months before 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, he did an excellent job guiding his boys to win a shocking silver medal in Kuala Lumpur – one of the best Malaysian hockey team ever.

Another  ’midas touch’ from  him took us to qualify for the 2000 Olympics Games in Sydney and the reward was making him the new head coach. Two years later he took his charges winning a bronze  at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea and a eight placing at the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, the same year.

It’s time to reset our national squad now after the experience in Odisha that underlined the capabilities of the Speedy Tigers. It’s time to believe in ourselves and also to get the overall support from the hockey family to gain momentum for the next mission.

Majulah hoki untuk negara!

National players celebrating after beating Japan 3-2 in the World Cup classification match in Rourkela to finish joint 13, on January 28.