EXCLUSIVE: 'The top 12 are very close', says David John on the increased competition in the hockey World Cup

The Hockey World Cup is slowly reaching its business end. Defending champions Belgium squared up against New Zealand on Tuesday in what was an enthralling game despite the 2-0 scoreline suggesting otherwise.

Underdogs New Zealand could have easily walked out with a win if they showed a little more application in their finishing. Meanwhile, three-time champions Australia had to toil rather hard against Spain to earn a 4-3 win to earn a berth in the semifinals.

The close nature of both matches carried forward the theme observed across the tournament. The teams ranked below in the table have been punching well above their weight and not allowing the top teams to have an easy walk over.

In an exclusive interaction with WION's Sports Editor Digvijay Singh Deo, former high-performance director of Indian Hockey, David John spoke on the same and suggested that in modern hockey, the top-12 teams were not differentiated by much and on their day, any team could outmuscle the other.

Excerpts:

Belgium vs New Zealand was always seen as a David vs Goliath battle. Many had thought New Zealand overachieved by reaching the quarter-final. But that wasn't a walk in the park for Belgium as people were expecting. Is that showing that top-10 teams, perhaps, in world hockey when it comes to this stage, there is not much separation, especially in knockout games like these?

I think the top 12...Korea showed yesterday. They are capable of getting a result and Malaysia were one hit against the post away from also going forward. So, the top 12 in this competition are very close.

Belgium, it was interesting to see how they were going to play without Hendrickx. Now, they have lost him for the tournament...he was their premier drag-flicker. They have a good replacements in Tom Boon and Loïck Luypaert.

Structurally though, they are very sound...they are quite happy leading by two goals and playing the game out. And absorbing the defence for long periods of time.

So, New Zealand needed to press earlier. I know, they took off their goalkeeper with seven minutes left and it give them some opportunities. However, they didn't seem to press hard enough at critical times in the match to put them under pressure.

In the two quarter-finals today, England will go toe-to-toe with Germany while in the final round of 8match will see the Netherlands lock horns with South Korea.

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