Pakistan To Open Their Campaign In World Hockey Cup

Former world champions, Pakistan will open their campaign in the 2018 Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar,India ,tomorrow, Saturday with the match against Germany.

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Nov, 2018 ) :Former world champions, Pakistan will open their campaign in the 2018 Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar,India ,tomorrow, Saturday with the match against Germany.

Pakistan, four time title holders, are currently 13th ranked while the Germans, the two time winners, are placed 6th in the FIH rankings.

The two sides have met eight times at the World Cup. In 1982 they came across twice, pool game and final. Pakistan have won five (including the penalty shootout win at 1994 semi-final). Germany have been victorious the other three times.

1973 (3rd place playoff) Germany beat Pakistan 1-0 1975 (semifinal) Pakistan beat Germany 5-1 1978 (semifinal) Pakistan beat Germany 1-0 1982 (pool) Pakistan beat Germany 5-3 , (Final) Pakistan beat Germany 3-1 , 1990 (pool) Germany beat Pakistan 1-0 1994 (semifinal) Pakistan beat Germany on penalty shootout after 1-1 2002 (pool) Germany beat Pakistan 3-2 After winning four of the first eight World Cups, Pakistan's fortunes have nosedived- failed to reach semifinal since 1994.

On the contrary, Germany have been a consistent performer. After finishing 5th in the inaugural World Cup, they made at least to the semis in each of the next 11 editions, before missing out during the last World Cup in 2014 when they ended sixth.

Germans also did not do well at the last Euro Hockey Nations Championships in 2017 where they were fourth. It was their first out of podium finish in the biennial event since 2007. In fact, Germany had won two and ended runners up the other two times in the intervening four Euro Hockey Nations Championships.

The German hockey team might not be doing well in recent times by its own standards but they start as the favourites against Pakistan, ranked seven places below. Pakistan can surprise Germans if they reproduce the form displayed at this year's Champions Trophy where they defeated Olympic Champions Argentina, drew against World number three Belgium and lost only 1-2 to the World Champions and No 1 ranked Australia.