 India have a win, India have a draw, they're young, they're reckless and they look a little bit raw. I hope you enjoy that limerick. Welcome to NewsClick. I am Good Cop Veva Raghunandan, with me is Leslie Bad Cop Xavier. First question Leslie, who has impressed you most in this Indian team? Are you in the scene? But yeah, I would say a couple of youngsters have come up well. Dilpreet for instance, he's raw, he's good talent. Why is he Hardik? Hardik Anadavan, again a player with pedigree. And they really played well yesterday. Though I would say that they would need a little bit of settling down as players. But yeah, youngsters who are nervous and always expected. But they've been great. I mean, I have to say I have to eat my words a little. But they impressed me yesterday a little bit in that second half. But nothing is perfect. I mean, if you ask me again, there's a lot of work to be done for Arendra Singh to actually going into the now. But the good point is that we can talk about quarters. Yeah, so this is the thing. I mean, against Belgium yesterday, it was a two-all draw. It seemed like India played a really good game in the second half. Belgium were outstanding in the first half. If you didn't watch the game, you would have, if you just read about the game, it would have seemed like a really great comeback by India. But I feel, why couldn't we start that way from the beginning? Is that something to be considered? I don't know. I think India took time to settle down yesterday game plan-wise. So Belgium started and it was very clear what they wanted. They wanted to hold the ball. Like, I mean, Arendra on the previous day to the match, he said that we would be doing that. But I guess Belgium were better at implementing. Some good spies. Spies. And they were better at implementing the game plan. And they also were going for penalty corners, which actually surprised me a little also because I thought that, yeah, obviously they would want to sort out their penalty corner woes. And the good part was that despite that slow start and all that, we eventually tried some variations. We swerved away from sticking to Armanpreet and tried Varun and look. Also, additionally, besides the fact that we tried the variation in the penalty corner, what was very different in the second half was, in the first half, Belgium's midfield were completely strangling us. Manpreet, Chenglinsana, even when Neelkaran came on, they had no answers to Belgium's midfield. So in the second half, in the next two quarters, quarter three and quarter four, we found a simple solution to bypass their midfield, the long ball. And for a team and a country that has a pedigree for dribbling and playing really innovative, really flair filled hockey, this long ball routine seemed a little odd, but it worked. Yeah, it did work and I was surprised with a couple of, in fact, a goal scoring opportunity was there. Lelyth almost trapped one, this was in the fourth quarter already. He scored one like that in the Asian team. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, against Korea in the Asian case, if I remember it right. And so, you almost trapped it, if you had trapped it well, I think he was a little caught in between positioning and also the Belgian goalkeeper is not an easy, I mean, best goalkeeper in the world. But long ball they tried, that was probably a, because they couldn't find any way. Our midfielders were invisible, if you ask me. Manpreet turned himself on a little bit in the second half, but otherwise we couldn't assert ourselves. That is going to be a problem in the coming matches. But long ball worked, but it may not work. And there's always that 50-50 chance with hockey long balls. It's not like football where, I mean, so I don't know whether we should celebrate that fact that we tried long ball and we were successful with that because in the coming matches we might lose because of such a tactic. Yeah, and next match is against Canada. Obviously, we are now in prime position to top the group and qualify directly for the quarter-finals. But there runs the risk of us taking our foot off the pedal and, I don't know, getting a bad day against Canada. It's happened before, it's not like we haven't done, got it wrong against Canada. In fact, it was Belgium and Canada in our Olympic, in the group in the Olympics. And we ended up drawing with Canada and therefore getting knocked out in the first round. Yeah, so... I mean, obviously we have to keep our eye on the ball, we're in prime place. What is the... Can I say a tricky team? Because they tested Belgium. Look, I'll be honest, they tested Belgium, but they look like the kind of team that only plays as well as the opposition. They played really well against Belgium, tested Belgium. Belgium was really, really, really inefficient on that day. But the game against South Africa was astonishingly unwatchable. I mean, I'm sorry to say this, but it really was quite boring. Canada is a tricky team because, like you mentioned earlier, they can bring the A game like they did against Belgium, but then against South Africa, they were pretty ordinary. So, but they would want a victory, so would India. India to seal and progress as group-toppers because if they mess up, then Belgium would obviously go through because Belgium, in a sense, start favorit... It's a matter of how much goals they would score against South Africa now. And they are not a high-scoring team. So, India has a golden opportunity to seal their quarter-final sport in the next round of matches. So, if we seal our quarter-final spot, that eases our way into the knockouts. We don't have to play an extra game in the World Cup. And that puts Belgium into a spot where they may have to face either Germany or Pakistan. And the reason I am completely counting out Malaysia is because they got whipped by the Dutch. So, that makes us wonder where we stand, Asian Orchie, that way, because Malaysia beat us, beat India in the semifinals at the Asian Games. And they are a pretty solid team, guided by two great coaches from India, guys. Terry Walsh and Roland Oldmans. So, and then out of the blue, this Dutch side comes in, beauty of Dutch football as well as hockey, I would say, they just mesmerize you by a clinical hockey hoop. I am out of adjectives here. And great to see that, but at the same time, ominous signs for the teams that are going to come and face them. But then again, Dutch can actually turn on and off. There are a little bit of a temperamental side. So, they are not like Germans. If Germans begin with a 10-15 nil kind of a score, then you... So, everyone else should just go home and just give them the trophy. So, talking about that, Pakistan did play well against Germany. It was a tight match and I felt sorry for Pakistan because I thought they... Is there a point? Yeah, it was a really slow start by the Germans. I have never seen them starts. Actually, they do start a little slower into tournaments sometimes. But at least they got the victory, which is more than can be said for their football team. So, the match of these first two rounds has been Argentina versus Spain. For those of you that missed that game, it was a mad game of hockey with five goals in the first quarter. And after that, Argentina won it 4-3. There was one particular... There's one moment which really stood out to me in that whole match, which was that Spain penalty corner. I mean, I can't stop talking about it. I keep telling everyone about it. And now that I'm doing this video, it's a chance to reach out to a larger group of people. You must watch this game. What did you make of Argentina's performance? Argentina or Olympic gold medalists? What did you make of their performance in that game? Olympic champions, yeah. So, you expect them to be Olympic champions. But the thing is, Argentina has not had a great build-up into this tournament. The coach resigned. Senior players from that side went away. I mean, they're in protest against the coach resigning at a crucial moment. Just, in fact, months, couple of months before the tournament. And then they had named a new coach and then these players came back and there were a lot of speculation. And they started off a practice match against India and they lost pretty badly. Finally, I think it was. So, it was not a great start to the tournament. So we were expecting going ahead. We had a discussion as well. Going into that Spain match that is going to be tricky. Let's see how these guys are because they don't seem that good, at least in the build-up. But just amazing. They just switched on like that and beautiful hockey. Again, penalty corners, specialist, the best in the world now. And so, he proved why he is considered the best in the world. Because in this World Cup, and I feel that's true, generally in hockey also, people have started deciphering penalty corners. They are defending it well. So, this is another talking point that probably we guys will have through the course of the tournament, analyzing the conversion rates and see how defenses are coping with penalty corners, which I feel it's... Anyway, so Periyat is someone that has withstood. Yeah, I mean, Periyat has that power. It doesn't matter. I mean, if you have that accuracy and that power, it doesn't matter how fast the runner is running at you, what angles the goalkeeper is cutting off. I mean, he hit one through the Spain goalkeeper's ribs, I think, in that game. I mean, I think it went through. There's still a hole there. I don't know. So, I mean, some... Yes, I do think that penalty corners, there is a reduction in the conversion rate. I do also believe this is a really good thing, because I... I mean, I love watching field hockey. So, I enjoy seeing... And hockey is all about angles. I mean, even the game when it's played on the field is about just getting the ball into the correct areas, trying to cut the angles correctly. It's a very fun game that way, if you think about it. And how these defenders charge, cavalry charge, I would... I mean, it's madness. But then again, we do have a lot to sort out, in India with our penalty corners, because we are talking again of defences catching up, and then we are talking about a group of young, good penalty corner specialists who are far from being perfect, compared to Payat for instance. Yeah, I mean, I think in India's penalty corner routines are fairly... Well, I don't want to say that they are fairly predictable, because penalty corners aren't truly really so predictable. But they are very basic. There is two batteries, and you pretty much know which way the injector is going to inject, because the second battery is not as involved in the play itself. And also, I feel Arman Preet as a tell, because I remember him shaking a little, and I know that he's going to drag. I mean, it's... I haven't caught the tell yet, but if any of you have... Yeah. But yeah, variations are very factor in the first match in India's, and we messed up there. That way, though final is quite a predictable result starting the World Cup, but again, final against a team which is not exactly great. So, yesterday's match, they tried a different penalty corner taker, and though it was not exactly a variation like how that Spain penalty corner was, but still we are trying different things. We have given... Roidas is again in the wings. He can be another option in the coming matches. Maybe I feel... What do you think, coach Arendra? Looking ahead, going into that Canada match, which is a must win for us to top the group, for sure, to ensure us. But Arendra is also caught in a dilemma now that he should... Should he try something else? Should he ensure for the knockouts, keeping the knockouts in mind? I think definitely. It's not like... Look, there's this ex Liverpool coach, Brendan Rogers. He said a lot of stupid things. There was one thing which I really thought he said which really caught my attention was... He said managing a sports team is like building an aeroplane while it's flying. And that's the perfect way to describe what managers and coaches do. And we've got an 18 member squad. This is the best. The guys who have tried out all the routines, they've done all their practice. They've got certain tells, certain weapons, certain weaknesses. And it's not like... I mean, I don't think in this World Cup, in the next game, Arendra can try something that he's not tried in the last 3-4 months. Obviously. What he can do, will do and should do is keep experimenting. Till you land what you really need. Try and see if bucket seats work better than plastic seats. You know, if arm rests are better or cup holders. Like you just work it out. Yeah, and we are far from perfect that way. That we have to stick to the particular thing. Because in these two performances, where a lot of weakness have come out. And though I commend them for their performance against Belgium, I am still not convinced. Because it was shaky. And also at the end, I felt that they should have scored. Without a goalkeeper. And that is where earlier, when we discussed the long ball. That is where they failed because they stuck to that long ball. Even when there was no goalkeeper in the goal post. A straight forward hit into the D would have created a deflection from Akash Tipo. Someone who is the LLith. For instance, he was always lurking. Always gonna score somewhere. Instead of that, they tried long. So they stuck to that. So that again is a weakness in the Arrendra team. I feel that changing the tactic on the go is still something that we are a little step behind. We take time. In fact, we took too much time in the first half of the match. Two quarters we took to change. So that leaves us with the best of the rest. Nobody else seems to have impressed much. Australia have just about managed to beat Ireland. But Australia is Australia. And they will start playing when they are in the final. And England were held to a really entertaining draw by China. And China didn't come for the Asian games by the way. Because their entire team was secretly preparing for the World Cup. This is not true. This is a joke. But yeah, China was a revelation in the match. And they could be the dark horses. No pun intended. But yeah, they could be the... China are not winning the World Cup. You can keep this on record. But they might be featured in the crossover. They are capable of creating an upset. Maybe an upset, let's see. And so that pretty much wraps our show. We've got India playing Canada next. And Belgium playing South Africa. If Belgium can beat South Africa by more than five goals. And India can beat Canada. Then it gets interesting. Otherwise, we are through. Thank you.