Men's Field Hockey FIH Hockey Series 2018 - 2019

[LDOG 2,468]

Finals Tournament 1 starts tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur. 2 quotas for olympic play-offs available.

 

In theory Malaysia and Canada should take them, with China running behind. Malaysia and Canada have nothing to fear though, their ranking almost guarantees they will qualify for the playoffs even if they fail here. As I predicted, Vanuatu withdrew from this round, they are being replaced by Belarus.

 

Don't ask me what happens if Wales is top 2... 

[Gianlu33 5,276]

Italy defeated China 2-1 This is really an huge result, I never expect something like this.

[dcro 10,210]

Is it Italy or Argentina C though?

[LDOG 2,468]

They have 7 argentinian, one of them is actually a quite good player (Thomas Keenan). I think he was capped with our team at some point or at least was part of the training squad. His brother Nicolás is playing with our team in pro league.   

 

Nice upsets in first day but I still feel like nothing here really matters. The higher ranked teams will still qualify and they will still get a better seeding for the playoffs. Of course it would be a milestone for Italy, Austria or Wales to just make the play offs but if they do they will get some impossible opponent like Germany or India while Canada will still be playing a team of around their ranking. 

Edited April 26, 2019 by LDOG

[LDOG 2,468]

Knockout games: 

 

Austria vs winner of Malaysia-Wales

Italy vs winner of China-Canada

 

Impressive from Austria and Italy taking 1st places but, as I said before, FIH has ensured that even if they qualify Canada and Malaysia will still play easier opponents in the play-offs because of ranking, despite being defeated by them here.

Anyway, I think Italy at least will make a big climb in the rankings.

[phelps 8,286]

I can feel it...by tomorrow, Italy would be under a few meters of snow...

 

what's gonna happen tomorrow, in fact, goes well beyond the definition of "exceptional"...

 

for the first time since 1999 (when Italy hosted the top tier men's European Championships), a Field Hockey match is going to be broadcasted live in its entirety by our National TV*...

 

this unbelievable miracle will happen tomorrow at 11.45 a.m. CET on the sport channel of our public TV, Raisport+ HD, and concerns the game between Italy and Canada, the semifinal of the FIH Hockey Series from Malaysia, which, in case of success, is also the only Italian chance to earn a spot for the Olympic Qualification playoffs...

 

*apart from that, the only Field Hockey pictures seen on our TV in the last 20 years are some short summaries of our National Championship (aired with at least 4/5 days delay...and completely disappeared in the last few years) or some short summaries and/or live look-in during the Olympic Games, but we've never had more than 15/20 consecutive minutes of Field Hockey on TV...

[Dolby 754]

Italy leading Canada 1-0 at halftime 

[Dolby 754]

38 minutes ago, Dolby said:

Italy leading Canada 1-0 at halftime 

And Canada turns it around. Defeats Italy 3-1 to qualify for Olympic play-off.

 

Well played  

[LDOG 2,468]

Malaysia in. No surprises then.

 

China remains the only other team from this tournament that still has a chance of play-offs.

[Shravan Kumar 109]

FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubhaneshwar (India)

Day 1- Pool A:  10- 0 

            Pool A:  4- 0 

 

            Pool B:  0- 2