The turn of the century did not witness any improvement in the fortunes of India’s World Cup campaign in hockey as the team continued to perform poorly even as teams like Argentina, England, South Korea and Belgium took rapid strides.
The World Cup returned to Kuala Lumpur after 27 years in 2002, with the number of participating countries increasing from 12 to 16. The teams were split into two groups of eight each. India entered the fray with new hope and memory of its only World Cup win at the same venue in 1975. The team was placed in Pool-B alongside Australia, South Korea, England, Japan, Poland, Cuba and hosts Malaysia.
Germany, looking stronger and fitter, were grouped in Pool-A withNetherlands, a rapidly improving Argentina, Pakistan, Spain, New Zealand, South Africa and Belgium.
India began the campaign on the wrong foot as lowly Japan held them to a 2-2 draw. In fact, Japan was leading 2-0 at one stage and India had to claw back into the match with two late strikes. In the next three matches, India slumped to defeat against South Korea (1-2), Malaysia (2-3) and England (2-3). The team won its next two ties against Cuba (4-0) and Poland (4-1) before losing to Australia (3-4) to complete the league engagements.
Malaysia had taken sweet revenge by winning by the same margin it had lost to India in the 1975 World Cup semifinal. India could earn only seven points while Australia, making a clean sweep of all its seven matches, headed the table followed by South Korea which won five of its seven ties. Malaysia, England and Japan finished ahead of India in the table.
In the other pool, Germany and Netherlands qualified for the semifinals though both teams suffered a defeat at the league stage.
While Germany went down to Spain 2-3, it beat Netherlands by a solitary goal. Argentina won five of its matches to finish just a point behind Netherlands and Pakistan made an early exit losing three of its ties.
In the cross over match, India beat Spain 3-0 and playing for the ninth spot, went down to New Zealand 1-2. In the semifinals, Germany faced stiff resistance from the sprightly South Koreans before emerging victors (3-2). In the other semifinal, Australia beat
Netherlands 4-1. Germany lifted the cup for the first time when they defeated Australia 2-1 in the final. Netherlands beat South Korea by the same margin to claim the third place.
Four years later, the World Cup venue shifted to a German city with an unpronounceable name --Monchengladbach. The tournament was back to its earlier format with 12 teams. India was placed in Pool-B with holders Germany, South Korea, Netherlands, England and South Africa.
Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Pakistan, Argentina and Japan were in Pool-A.
India’s woeful story continued in this edition as well with the team being able to draw only one game against South Africa (1-1) while losing the rest four encounters. Germany and England beat India by identical 3-2 margins while South Korea edged them out 2-1. In the last group encounter, India was humiliated by Netherlands 6-1. India lost to Argentina in the crossover match for minor placing 2-3. The team managed to get the 11th position by beating South Africa by a solitary goal.
In the semifinals, Australia ousted South Korea 4-2 while Germany beat Spain 3-1 in the tie-breaker after the match ended two-all. Germany retained the cup defeating Australia 4-3 in the final. Spain took the third spot edging out South Korea 3-2.
India hoped to do better when the World Cup was held in the country for the second time in 2010 at New Delhi. Twelve teams were in the fray with champions of the previous edition, Germany grouped with Netherlands, South Korea, Argentina, New Zealand and Canada in Pool-A. In Pool-B, India had to wrestle with top contenders Australia, England, Spain, South Africa and Pakistan.
Holders Germany won three of the five pool matches but was held to draw by plucky South Korea, semifinalists at Monchangladbach in the previous tournament, and Netherlands. The score line was 2-2 in both matches but despite the hiccups Germany topped the group with 11 points with Netherlands finishing second with 10 points. South Korea also won three matches and finished with ten points, but Netherlands went through to the semifinals with Germany because of superior goal difference.
India’s woeful run in the World Cup continued. There was great euphoria when the team outclassed Pakistan 4-1 in its opening match.
But India stumbled in its next three encounters losing to both Australia and Spain by wide 5-2 margins. They lost their next tie against England 2-3. Having drawn against South Africa 3-3, India could finish fourth in the table with four points. Pakistan fared even worse losing four of its matches to end up last in the group.
Australia, in prime form, faced Netherlands in the semifinal and eked out a 2-1 victory while Germany trounced England 4-1 in the other match to decide the finalists. In the final for the third consecutive championship, the team from down under beat Germany 2-1 to lift the cup for the second time. Netherlands edged out England 4-3 in another tight encounter to finish third. India lost to Argentina 2-4 to finish eighth in the competition.
The World Cup returned to Netherlands for the third time and was held at The Hague in 2014. There were dozen teams in the fray as usual with champions Australia placed in Pool-A. The other teams in the group were England, Belgium, Spain, India and Malaysia.
Hosts Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa and Argentina were the teams in Pool-B. While Australia decimated the opponents in all five pool matches to top the group, England finished second to move into the last four. India could register only one win against Malaysia (3-2) and drew the tie against Spain one-all. The team lost all other three matches to Belgium (2-3), England (1-2) andAustralia (0-4) and ended in the fifth position to bow out once again.
In the other pool, Germany lost its matches to Argentina and Netherlands by solitary goals to miss the semifinals for the first time since 1973 (the team played as West Germany till 1990 and then as Germany). Netherlands and Argentina (destined to be crowned Olympic champions two years later) qualified for the semifinals from the group.
Australia, showing stupendous form throughout the tournament, scored goals at will as they pulverized Malaysia (4-0), Spain (3-0), Belgium (3-1), England (5-0) and India (4-0) in the pool matches. In the semifinal against Argentina, the Kangaroos won 5-1 to storm into the final where they walloped Netherlands 6-1 to win the cup for the third time and retain it for the second consecutive time. The Aussies scored 30 goals in seven matches and conceded only three.
Germany’s poor form continued as they went down to Belgium 2-4 to finish sixth while India claimed the ninth spot defeating South Korea 3-0.
(The writer is a senior journalist based in Bhubaneswar)