Express News Service
CHENNAI: The Pakistan skipper, Umar Bhutta, had a blank expression on his face. He had run the show in midfield along with his colleagues but some profligate finishing let the team down. After a shaky first half, the Green Shirts had refocused and recomposed. The result was wave after attacking wave on Japan’s increasingly fragile territory. However, that equalising goal never came. The dream died a painful death.
A few hours later, Pakistan coach, Siegfried Aikman, also used the word ‘died’ to describe the final group game against Japan. They needed to avoid defeat to give themselves a shot at qualifying for the World Cup but the 2-3 defeat left them vulnerable and it showed when India scored 16 unanswered goals against Indonesia to eliminate one of the sport’s most storied and celebrated sides.
‘It was a do-or-die game and unfortunately we died,” Aikman summed up Thursday’s proceedings succinctly. “Now it’s all about rebirth.” While a few people have been quick to re-emphasise the country’s status quo in the sport in the wake of this latest result, Aikman begs to disagree. “First-half the boys were afraid of failure and it showed. I thought we were fantastic in the second-half, we had a lot of good goal-scoring chances.”
In fact, that’s true for all three of Pakistan’s group games. Against Japan, they had 18 shots on goal (Japan had 11), 30 circle penetrations (19) and five penalty corners (four). Against India, they were unlucky to only draw as their forwards missed a few gilt-edged chances before levelling the game in the 59th minute. Fair to say, Aikman has seen enough that he’s excited for what the future holds. “The talent is there, we saw the talent on the stage. We now need to play more games. There is the Commonwealth Games and the Nations Cup. We can show our growth even before the World Cup (in India).”
The Dutchman has another reason to be hopeful. He says the country will announce a Pakistan Hockey League with the inaugural edition set to be played later this year. “People behind the Pakistan Cricket League (Pakistan Super League) will start a PHL later this year. There will be foreigners in the league.” The now defunct Hockey India League elevated the levels of Indian players and opened them up to a modern brand of hockey and Aikman is hopeful that there will be a similar domino effect.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he says. “India took 10-12 years (to get back their lost) glory. It will take time. My ultimate aim is to give a good performance with this team in the 2026 World Cup and everything will be building towards it. Look where Japan are at. That’s my legacy with them. When I leave Pakistan, I want that legacy with them too.”
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