It’s been more than half a century that the Indian men’s hockey team has been anywhere near the World Cup podium. As Craig Fulton’s boys enter the final stretch of preparations for yet another shot at the medal, the coach is not only aware of the challenge ahead but also comfortable with the ‘underdog’ tag for his team.
Result
“England have a very experienced team and have got results against everyone. They had a fantastic Pro League. It’s nice to have played them twice before we play them in the pool. And Pakistan are Pakistan. They can score goals from nothing; at the same time, they can have a bad patch and you can score two-three goals as well. So, it’s an interesting pool.
It’s up to us now to perform and get the results,” Fulton said.
Key Moments
“The ideal goal, of course, is to win. It’s perfectly set up for a World Cup. We go into it as underdogs, to be honest, and that’s a good place for us to be. There will also be the Asian Games in two months with an Olympic ticket at stake. However, Fulton insisted the team wasn’t looking that far ahead, not even to the knockout stages of the World Cup yet. “The first goal is to get out of the pool in the top two, preferably in the number one position. We’re looking at all our tactical plans, all our opposition, our offensive, long corner, penalty corner type defence. We’re really trying to do a good job on what we’re going to be coming up against. “Everything we’re doing is building for one tournament with a second tournament in mind. It’s like having a goal, the World Cup, but we also have a goal through a goal, the Asian Games. All our training is geared around being physically, mentally and tactically sharp enough to cover both tournaments,” Fulton explained.
Because we are ranked eighth, the realistic goal is we’ve been given a 5% chance of winning. Because everyone’s in a good place,” he said, and the guys are super motivated.
