Phase one of the Hero Honda hockey World Cup was eventful and perhaps in the way visualised.
What the league stage of the 12th edition mirrored was the alignment of the contemporary power equation, which underlines the supremacy of Europe. This is testified by three European teams in the semifinals.
Australia, the only entity that challenges their hegemony, is reckoned as the team destined to rewrite history after a long hiatus from 1986.
What the next segment, starting on Thursday, will bring to the surface on Sunday is best left to conjecture. The argument that all the four deserve their place is irrefutable.
Commendable has been the technical, tactical and temperamental competence that has characterised the performance of the teams in the last four. The coaches often express their disapproval largely because of the fear of complacency and the urge to do better dominates.
It is not easy to earn compliments from taskmasters like Ric Charlesworth, Markus Weisse or Jason Lee simply by netting a goal or two. For them it is a continuous endeavour towards perfection.
Controlled aggression
Controlled aggression is the essence. Integrated into this is consistency, not easily achieved, but striven for from the first minute. True, there have been setbacks with Korea causing a lot of damage to the stature of Germany by holding the defending champion to a draw and then beating former winner, the Netherlands.
It is a pity that Korea, a semifinalist in the last event, fell out this time. This was notwithstanding the heroic performance against the Dutchmen. The reverse against New Zealand had done it in.
Nothing stopped Germany, not even a draw with the Netherlands, from moving ahead to the top of the table. The team raised the bar match after match by fine-tuning its trapping, distribution and injecting an element of elegance to the finish.
Florian Fuchs, Christoph Menke and Matthias Witthaus contributed to providing the flicks and deflections a yard in front of bemused goalkeepers.
The Dutch, despite their victory sequence, almost tripped at the final hurdle. True, some of the goals they scored were a sight to behold but they continued to fumble in the second half. The ageing Teun di Nooijer is still the vital component in the attack. He pleases the senses whenever he breaks into a magnificent and mellifluous run.
The awesome Aussies, giving full play to their adeptness, athleticism and aggression, recovered admirably after their opening fiasco against the more organised Englishmen.
India and South Africa faced the full fury of the Aussie power, symbolised by the system and style in the penalty corner executions by the rangy Luke Doerner, joint top-scorer with Dutchman Taeke Taekema with six goals at the moment.
England's reputation as the European champion enhanced quite a bit after the win over Australia. Guided in masterly fashion in the mid-field by Ben Hawes and Glenn Kirkham, sharp shooters like Ashley Jackson, Jonty Clarke and James Tindell often destroyed the confidence of the rival defenders. Richard Mantell being rendered hors de combat for the rest of the competition is a big loss.
Korea, which suffered a great deal for its loss against New Zealand, was a very difficult team to beat. Skipper Hyun Nam and Jong Ho fought like true gladiators. No adversity obstructed them from giving vent to their spirit and strength.
The same cannot be said of Spain — lacking in focus, consistency and beset with injury problems. Pol Amat had to take a great deal of burden on himself with the stars Pau Quemada and Ed not always in full flow.
Anachronism
The sub-continental superpowers, India and Pakistan, are now an anachronism. Pakistan, winner of the cup four times, is fighting for the last two places, while India figures in the 7-8 range. Some may claim it as an improvement for India as it had finished 11th in the last edition and had never figured in this equation since the 1994 event in Sydney.
The concept of video referrals has been a talking point. The handling of this sensitive mechanism has been somewhat amateurish and exposed some chinks.
The delay in determining the requests and poor communication between the video umpire and the two on the field are highlighting the fact that something down the line has gone horribly wrong. Nothing exposed this more than depriving India of a goal against South Africa while the referral by the latter was being examined.
The system is good but lacks professionalism. The technical staff needs to study the causes and minimise the errors. The excitement is set to touch a new peak as the competition heads for the summit on Saturday.
Thursday's matches: 11-12: Pakistan vs. Canada (3.35 p.m.). Semifinals: Germany vs. England (6.05 p.m.) and Australia vs. Netherlands (8.35 p.m.).
