England managed to hold off India and win 3-2. This has dashed the hopes of an improbable semi-final appearance by the host in the 2010 hockey world cup. England are a vastly improved team and all kudos to them to hold off and play as well as they have. I for one will root for them to go all the way and perhaps whup the Aussies in the finals.
After the superlative performance in the first match against Pakistan, who by the way are also not performing as expected.. surprise surprise that no Asian team is going any place, high expectations were setup and not met in the subsequent matches. Now the team has to pick itself once again from the hole dug by the Aussie tournament director, the powers that be (read jokers and nincompoops) who run Hockey in India, the government and finally the players who find themselves alone on an island.
We also definitely miss the clout in the world of hockey akin to the BCCI in the world of cricket. The Europeans and the Australians have combined to make it their fiefdom and the earlier this is broken, the better IMHO for world of hockey.
However, I still see hope given that we now have a great chance to improve on our previous standing of 12 from the last world cup.
