Amstelveen, The complicated format of the FIH Hockey World Cup has left teams, fans and media grappling with permutations and combinations, with the focus increasingly shifting from performances on the field to calculations about who can reach the semifinals.
Because those are the most exciting matches in the tournament, indian women’s team’s chief coach Sjoerd Marijne had said prior to the tournament that he personally prefers quarter finals.
Chile women’s captain Manuela Urroz said the format had not worked in her team’s favour. But we know the rules and just have to play well,” said the striker. This has also taken away from the fun and surprise element of the game,” the coach said. Experienced Dutch hockey journalist Ramon Min said the calculations were distracting from the game itself. You are going so deep into the theory that the focus is diverted from the game,” he said. not good or bad, as the emphasis on the pool games is very very important While men’s team head coach Craig Fulton had said that this format is different.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best for us. I don’t know what to say about it. Maybe some teams find it fair and some feel it is not. So it is what it is. A coach of a former World Cup-winning and hosting team, speaking on condition of anonymity, felt the system could favour the bigger teams. “This format favours the bigger teams. If they win in the first round, they still have points to advance to the second round. Now, the mathematics of the equations become more important than the thrill of winning or losing in the knockout phase. “To be honest, we are sitting here in the media centre and a lot of mathematics is going on. You want to know all the possible scenarios and there are many scenarios, so you feel it’s a little too much.
