2006 Men's Hockey World Cup in Germany
 

Anyone interested in field hockey here ?

Who's your tip to win the wc in Germany in Sepetember ?

Here is how I see the final standings:

1. Spain
2. Australia
3. Germany
4. Pakistan
5. Holland
6. India
7. Argentina
8. Korea
9. New Zealand
10. England
11. Japan
12. South Africa

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I'll put a post in here just to keep you company.

IMO, though Spain can always pull something spectacular out of the bag, Australia will just be too good. I'd predict that Australia's overlapping would completely overwhelm the Spanish defence. Also think Spain have trouble defending short corners - arguably one of Australia's biggest strengths.

I'd have the Aussies as favourites but I feel Spain can beat Australia.
Luke Doerner and Troy Elder are very good but Spain have excellent penalty corner takers themselves in Santiago Freixia and Xavi Ribas.

Spain's midfield is probably better than Austalia's but as you said correctly, Sapin have always been vulnerable on the counterattack, which Australia are excellent at.

Germany at home will be very tough and of course the Dutch are perennial contenders.
Look for Argentina to pull of a surprise.

If India can pick a full strength squad (with Gagan, Deepak and Bimal Lakra), they can finish in the top six - Bhaskaran is probably the best Indian coach after Kaushik so they may attain fifth or sixth which is decent given the rubbish results before.

Pakistan also at best will finish fifth or sixth - given they have just as many problems as India. NZ are another dark horse IMO.

I'll be honest with you, I made all that up.

lol...but you were spot on about Spain's traditional weakness and Australia's strength in the short corners....:D

Australia have been in pretty good form over the last little while i think i heard and i reakon the kookaburra's will win easily.

I'm a fan of field hockey, it's a great game!

Nathan Eglington (current Australian player) went to my school...taught him everything he knows :cool:

Salamuddin Janissar to star for Pakistan in the midfield.

I can personally see Argentina going a long way. I think their brand of hockey is perfectly suited to grinding out the results needed in this sort of tournament.


Holland, on the other hand, are all flair and no efficiency.

the only world cup to talk about in 2006 is soccer..

I'd be pretty disappointed if NZ only finish 9th. We should be able to beat Korea, and IIRC we have beaten India quite regularly in recent times. Our biggest problem is that Simon Towns and Dion Gosling have recently retired, which leaves a massive gap at centre half and fullback. Ryan Archibald has fallen back into the centre half position, but IMO isn't as effective there as he was when he played up front.

I'd imagine Australia will win, with Spain, Holland and Germany fighting it out for 2nd, 3rd and 4th with Pakistan probably 5th. 6th to 10th could probably go in any order, the teams are fairly even and it could just come down to who has the best game on the day. Japan and SA will most likely take 11th and 12th.

And yeah. Hockey's awesome. People who haven't played it - you don't know what you're missing.

No FootBall :)

So is the World Cup given greater prominence than the Champion's Trophy?

you will be playing England for 9-10 and should win it