TOP TEN PLAYERS OF THE ONGOING FIH PRO LEAGUE

The Pro League is about to begin again. Indian men’s team has already left the shores to take on Argentina next week. The women’s Pro League will see action afresh this week end. As the Pro League gives a whiff of fresh air in the ongoing difficult times, let us see top ten players who make,  and continue to make, the event attractive. Its not surprise the Red Lions walk away with much of them – Editor

JOHN-JOHN DOHMEN (BELGIUM)

John-John Dohmen crossed a remarkable milestone in the FIH Pro League, that of earning 400 international caps for Belgium. It’s a feat stupendous by any reckoning but more so because Dohmen bounced back from serious illness to re-take his place as a key player in the Red Lions ranks. The 33-year-old joined five others in the four-ton club in the match against Spain in Valencia in February, a little over two years after he spent time in a Bangkok hospital with pneumonia that stifled his breathing capacity to just 10 percent. The attack compelled him to withdraw from the 2018 Bhubaneswar World Cup which Belgium ultimately won. Dohmen, in the current season, plays judiciously and resourcefully in the midfield, piecing together many a move that launches the Red Lions offensives. Belgium, table leaders by far, have a real team person in their midst in Dohmen who brings to the fore his skills and sheer weight of experience.

ALEXANDER HENDRICKX (BELGIUM)

Not surprisingly, Alexander Hendrickx leads the goal scorers list in the FIH Pro League with 11, scored with powerful drag flicks. At the 2018 World Cup, the 27-year-old defender finished joint top-scorer with Blake Govers of Australia with seven goals apiece. At the EuroHockey championship in Antwerp the following year, he again joint top-scored with five goals. His lethal prowess at the set-piece is a factor in Belgium’s rush to the top of the Pro League standings. However his penalty corner exploits must not eclipse his sturdy defending that lays a sound foundation for the Red Lions full court presses that piles pressure on pressure on rival citadels.

FLORENT VAN AUBEL (BELGIUM)

The Belgium forward is a cool customer on the pitch and it was this temperament that enabled the Red Lions pull off victory in the 2018 Bhubaneswar World Cup final shootout victory over The Netherlands. Van Aubel, pressure building, hauled his team back into the contest after they trailed 0-2 in the shootout by cooly converting his shootout. He then scored in sudden-death after Belgium were denied what they thought was victory by a referral before Hertzberger missed for the Dutch, giving Belgium victory. Van Aubel perhaps had planned for such a situation. He reveals the best advice he’s received is “How to handle shootout situations mentally” by Jean Willem — Head coach KHC Dragons, his club. In the current FIH Pro League The 29-year-old’s experience of 238 caps has been crucial in his team’s rise to the very top of the league with plenty to spare.

PIRMIN BLAAK (THE NETHERLANDS)

Pirmin Blaak brings a sense of defensive security to the Netherlands. When you think of the Dutch, it’s their colourful attack, pretty patterns they weave around rival defences and lethal drag-flicking. But all those exploits are made possible with an adequate last line of defence that Blaak, 33, provides. The veteran of 100 international appearances was adjudged Player of the Match after a 1-0 win over Great Britain in an FIH Pro League match at the Wagener stadium in Amstelveen in October. The scoreline suggests that a tight match ended in favour of the Dutch but it could all have been very different if not for Blaak’s numerous outstanding saves.

ALEXANDER STADLER (GERMANY)

After Germany were drubbed 6-1 by Belgium in the FIH Pro League in September, morale was low as they took the pitch the next day for the second match in Dusseldorf. But young Alexander Stadler in goal was unperturbed, it appeared. His string of saves in normal time followed by outstanding blocks in the shootout to win his team a bonus point restored the confidence and boosted spirits in the German camp. He duly won the Player of the Match award for virtually a single-handed effort to win the day for a team battered and bruised just the day before. Just 21, Stadler’s performance in only his third international appearance was truly remarkable.

CONSTANTIN STAIB (GERMANY)

With Germany in a recovery mode from a drubbing at the hands of Belgium earlier in the FIH Pro League, a tense match against the Netherlands in Amstelveen. The Dutch started favourites at home but the momentum quickly changed. Much of that accrued from Constantin Staib, the lively striker from Polo Club, Hamburg, whose brace of goals in a 4-2 win set up one of the most convincing German wins over their arch rivals. Staib,25, who made his international debut in 2015 in a test match against South Africa in Cape Town, has collected 71 caps since then and one expects him to be in the thick of action in encounters to come.

HARMANPREET SINGH (INDIA)

It’s been over 13 months since India last played a men’s international match. The last occasion in Feb 2020 brought a memorable result – a bonus point in a shootout victory over defending champions Australia in the FIH Pro League. Harmanpreet Singh, India’s defender par excellence, starred in that epic triumph at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Besides bolstering the defence, he scored in normal time from his trademark drag-flick and then, as he usually does, tucked away his shootout to put India on the road to victory. The 25-year-old deservedly was adjudged Player of the Match.

SEBASTEIN DOCKIER (BELGIUM)

Sebastein Dockier celebrated his 200th cap in the FIH Pro League match against Spain with two goals of high quality. Both were scored with backhand deflections – the second one in a diving attempt — in Belgium’s 3-2 win in Valencia and duly brought the 31-year-old striker the Player of the Match award. Dockier comes from a hockey-playing family – his father, sister, uncles and aunts having played the game. Dockier was left out of the squad for the EuroHockey championship in Antwerp in 2019 but has come back into the reckoning with a sparkling display in the ongoing FIH Pro League.

VICTOR WEGNEZ (BELGIUM)

He lifts the Red Lions with energy and emotion that wins hearts of fans on either side. Victor Wegnez, 26, also provides the buzz in the midfield and steps up to score when the opportunity arises. Who can forget his amazing goal against Germany in the 2019 EuroHockey championship semifinal in Antwerp? Wegnez beat a defender dashed into the circle and found the far corner of the goal with a backhander to put Belgium 3-2 ahead. Wegnez was adjudged Player of the Tournament as the Red Lions clinched their first continental title. In the ongoing FIH Pro League, the Racing Club de Bruxelles star earned the Player of the Match accolade after an outstanding performance against Great Britain last October in a 3-2 win. With 95 international appearances behind him including matches in Belgium’s 2018 World Cup winning campaign, Wegnez is central to the Red Lions hopes of not only winning the Pro League but adding the Olympic title to their impressive cabinet.

GAUTHIER BOCCARD (BELGIUM)

The 30-year-old midfielder/defender Gauthier Boccard has a habit of scoring remarkable goals – like the one he scored against Argentina in the 2016 Rio Olympic final albeit in a losing cause. In the current FIH Pro League, he struck another memorable goal against Germany in Dusseldorf to inspire Belgium to a 6-1 victory. Boccard, capped 225 times, was a member of Belgian teams to win the 2018 World Cup, and 2019 EuroHockey title. He also featured in Waterloo Ducks triumph – the first ever Belgian club to do so — in the EHL and is much the player to cause panic in the ranks of opposing defenders.