Durability:

-De Nooijer, the Dutch captain is playing his fifth World Cup
– Dutch manager, Ties Kruize appeared in all the first six World Cups as a player

Consistency:

-Germany has appeared in the semi finals of all the last 11 World Cups.

– If they win the final on the 13th, Germany would be completing a hat trick of World Cup victories; an unprecedented feat

Confidence:

– Germany has the youngest team here with an average age of only 23

v- Germany has only three players from their winning squad of 2006 World Cup

The Most Improved Team:

– England reached the World Cup semi final for only the second time and for the first time outside their country

They managed to do that despite losing a number of players through injuries.
Simon Mantell and Matt Daly on the eve of the World Cup and then the influential deep defender, Richard Mantell during the third match

The Most Unexpected Finish:

– The record four time champions, Pakistan had the ignominy of getting the wooden spoon

The Best Come Back:

-When South Africa lost to Australia 0-12, it was the heaviest defeat for any team in the World Cup’s history. But in the very next match, South Africa bounced back to beat Pakistan, the record four time champions

On the verge of creating history:

– German captain Maximilian Muller has been a member of the last two World Cup winning teams. If Germany wins the final, Muller would be only the second man in history to be a member of three World Cup winning squads. The first to do so was Pakistan’s Akhtar Rasool

A Continent’s disappointment:

-Only for the third time no Asian team featured in the semi finals. The only other occasions were 1986 and 1998

Then kings now paupers:

– The manager and coach of the last placed Pakistan team, Asif Bajwa and Shahid Ali Khan both have been World Cup winners in the past, Bajwa in 1994 and Khan in 1982

No dependency:

– Teams with the best penalty corner conversion rates, Germany and England, are not dependent on a single drag flicker and also have no fearsome name like Taekema, Abbas, etc. among their ranks

That defeat would haunt us:

The third ranked Spain surprisingly lost to Pakistan who eventually finished last, a defeat which cost them the semi final spot

The most influential video referral:
With score at 2-2, India scores against South Africa. The Africans asked for a video referral related to a ‘foul’ committed in Indian circle moments back. The third umpire cancels the Indian goal and awards a penalty corner to South Africa who cash on it. The score board which showed 3-2 before the referral now displayed 2-3

The master coach:

– Australian coach, Richard Charlesworth has coached the Australian women team to two World Cup victories and same number of Olympic golds. He also has a World Cup winner medal (1986) as a player

Post Match Conference:

– A coach not knowing his team’s ranking. Pakistani coach Shahid Ali Khan in a post match press conference told the press men that his team is probably ranked eighth or ninth (their FIH ranking is seventh)

– Koreans’ interpreter was herself not much conversant with English causing a lot of confusion. This led to a change of interpreter after first three matches

– Brasa was most popular with his answers interspersed with wit, humour and Hindi words

– Korean coach’s hearty laughter before answering most of the questions made him also a favourite of the journalists

Knee-jerk Reaction:

– Within hours of Pakistan’s defeat in the last position match, the president of Pakistan Hockey Federation, Qasim Zia dismissed the entire management and the selection committee.