The group stage matches of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 concluded last evening. The knockout stage to kickstart from tomorrow, Sunday (January 22nd), with the crossover round.
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The biggest tournament in men’s hockey, the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup, this year began on January 13th, 2023 and the ‘Final’ would be played on January 29th, 2023. With 16 teams participating and been divided into 4 groups (Group A, B, C and D), the clashes between these teams are being held at the ‘Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium’ and the ‘Kalinga Stadium’, both in the state of Orissa, India. Hosts India, are placed in group D, along with England, Spain and Wales. Recently inaugurated, the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela, is the biggest hockey stadium in the world.
Throughout the tournament, each match has been a contest of high quality hockey and good sportsmanship. The path of the tournament has been filled with ups-and-downs for most teams and some nail biting encounters.
Standing at the end of Group Stage of Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023
A series of highly contested group stage matches in the past one week have led to the culmination of the group stage.
As per the rules, pool toppers of their respective pools were to directly qualify for the Quarter Finals and the second and third ranked team in each pool will play a round known as ‘Crossover’, the winner of which will then qualify for the Last-8 (Quarter Finals).
At the end of the group stages, Australia (Pool A), reigning champions Belgium (Pool B), Netherlands (Pool C) and England (Pool D) have emerged as pool toppers. India missed the direct qualification by a whisker. Though both England and India had the same points (7) in the Pool as both won two and drew one of their 3 group stage games, the Indian team failed to score as many goals as the English as well as conceded a few more in comparison to the latter. Goal difference became a factor for India, as it is ranked second in the pool.
Crossover matches
In this 15th edition of the most prestigious tournament in men’s category of the sport, ‘Crossover’ games are to be played between the second ranked team of a group and third ranked team of the other.
The matchups are as follows:
- Malaysia (2nd in Pool C) vs Spain (3rd in Pool D)
- India (2nd in Pool D) vs New Zealand (3rd in Pool C)
- Germany (2nd in Pool B) vs France (3rd in Pool A)
- Argentina (2nd in Pool A) vs Korea (3rd in Pool B)
The winner of these matches will qualify for the Quarter Final round and then be facing the already qualified 4 teams,
Though even for the losers, it will not be their last match and they will play ranking games against the teams that have ended at the bottom of their respective pools.
Quarter Finals
As mentioned before, Australia, Belgium, England and the Netherlands have already qualified for the Quarter Finals of the World Cup. In that case, the possible encounters in the Last-8 Round can be as follows: –
- Australia vs Winner of [Malaysia (2nd in Pool C) vs Spain (3rd in Pool D)]
- Belgium vs Winner of [India (2nd in Pool D) vs New Zealand (3rd in Pool C)]
- Netherlands vs Winner of [Germany (2nd in Pool B) vs France (3rd in Pool A)]
- England vs Winner of [Argentina (2nd in Pool A) vs Korea (3rd in Pool B)]
All hockey fans are rooting for quality matches and hope to see their team lift the trophy.
The Semi Finals would be played on January 27th 2023 and the last of the tournament, January 29th 2023, will witness the Finals and the hardline match (match for 3rd and 4th position). Several ranking matches will also be played before the last day.
