Battered and apparently shattered, the Pakistan hockey team wrapped up their league round in the on-going Hockey World Cup with yet another defeat, now at the hands of title favourites Australia. The green shirts lost the last league round match by 2-1.
Though the Pakistan side showed a glimpse of good form in this match, it was too late and was futile. Pakistan finished the league round with just three points. Now they will play the classification match for 11th/12th position against the last ranked team of Pool A - most probably Canada.
Against Australia, Pakistan was leading by one goal in the first half when Sohail Abbas scored a goal in the 23rd minute, but in the second half Desmond Abbott scored in the 38th and 67th minutes to guide the Australians to the semi-final. Pakistan had the major share of success over Australia in the World Cups before this match, having won three and lost two in their six meetings.
Pakistan flopped miserably in the Hockey World Cup as they began with a shock 1-4 defeat against hosts India and then went on to lose against England and minnows South Africa to fall out of contention for the semifinals. They lost their last Pool B game against Australia 2-1 and finished the league stage with just one win - against Spain - from five matches.
Both England and Australia ended the league on 12 points each but the Aussies took top spot in the group by virtue of a superior goal difference.
Spain finished third in the group with nine points to ensure themselves a top-six finish in the tournament.
Hosts India claimed the fourth spot after a thrilling 3-3 draw with South Africa, who finished fifth and relegated Pakistan to sixth place. India and South Africa both ended with four points, but the hosts had a better goal difference.
After a pathetic show from the Pakistan hockey team in the World Cup, a wide range of changes and sackings are on the cards in the PHF setup, team and team management as well.
Chief selector national hockey team, Hasan Sardar, was quite annoyed with the team's performance saying, "It was a shameful tournament for us. Even the senior players failed to shoulder the responsibility of the team."
Four-time champions Pakistan suffered a 3-4 shocking loss to minnows South Africa in a Pool B match. It was one of the worst defeats in the history of Pakistani hockey and that too against a team that was blanked 12-0 by the Australians.
Before the World Cup, Pakistan brought back a quartet of senior players. They did well in other tournaments but surprisingly they failed miserably in the World Cup.
Now it has to be seen whether the PHF top brass got rid of all seniors at once or go for gradual strategy.
Pakistan's hockey chiefs will sit down in the PHF Headquarters soon after the World Cup to take a decision over the future of their aged but unimpressive senior players.
According to a source, the PHF chief, Qasim Zia, is likely to take a strict decision regarding the future of four seniors following the pathetic show at the World Cup which is under progress at New Delhi.
Though the PHF chiefs will be deliberating on various issues, the focus is likely to be on the burning question: to retain or not to retain the team's senior players - Sohail Abbas, captain Zeeshan Ashraf, midfielder Waseem Ahmed and goalie Salman Akber - for Pakistan's next big hockey assignment - the Asian Games. The four veterans were supposed to shoulder Pakistan's campaign in the 12-nation spectacle but failed to live up to expectations. Sohail, the world renowned drag-flicker, began the competition as international hockey's most prolific scorer, but he failed to make his presence felt in the competition.
Waseem had to play the role of the team's playmaker but he remained mostly off colour. Waseem's below-par showing is being seen by many as one of the major reasons behind Pakistan's poor showing in New Delhi.
Skipper Zeeshan Ashraf also failed to come out with the sort of performance that was needed to beef up the brittle Pakistani defence. Salman Akber has been largely unimpressive and has at times allowed opponents to score goals at will. There are indications that some of them might be ignored for future assignments.
It's a pretty busy year for the national team which will be featuring in three international events before competing in the Asian Games in China in November.
Pakistan will take part in the Asian Champions Trophy in Ipoh in April before participating in the Sultan Azlan Shah Trophy also to be staged in the same Malaysian city early this summer. In October, Pakistan will feature in the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi before the all-important Asian Games.
On the other hand, it was a wonderful World Cup for European champions England, who qualified for their first World Cup semi-final since 1986. England won their first four matches before tasting 0-2 defeat at the hands of Beijing Olympic silver-medallists, Spain, in their last league match.
England in their second match, thrashed South Africa 6-4. It was the first time in World Cup history that England pumped in six goals in a single match. They had scored five against Pakistan in 1998, but still lost the match as their rivals netted seven.
Favourites Australia thrashed South Africa 12-0 to record the biggest win in World Cup history.
Australia's penalty corner ace Luke Doerner slammed four goals, Jamie Dwyer three and Glenn Turner two as the Kookaburras surpassed Pakistan's 12-3 romp over New Zealand in the 1982 edition in Mumbai.
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