Modest Holland, Germany target semi-final spots

While their teams are rated among the favourites to lift the World Cup, Holland and Germany have both insisted on the semi-finals being their first target.
Dutch goalkeeper Guus Vogels, with two Olympic gold medals under his belt, said it was difficult to predict anything. “It is difficult to get a top-four finish, but that is the minimum we want. We have made some improvements in our game at the Champions Trophy and a few young players have come in, so we are hopeful,” Vogels told reporters in an interaction here on Wednesday.

Vogels, a two-World Cup veteran, also welcomed the rule changes on self-passing and video referrals, saying they had made the sport more exciting. “It (self-passing) is a big improvement, it has brought in more excitement. But it has become harder for a goalkeeper to defend now,” he said.

German Florian Fuchs said it felt great to be playing in a World Cup. As someone who joined the senior team only last year, the 18-year-old said he had no pressure to play in his first big tournament. “We are a young, ambitious team and we only want to give our best performance.”

Talking about his team’s prospects of completing a hat-trick of world titles, Fuchs said: “It is not easy. The 2006 World Cup team had more experienced players. But our first target will be to reach the semi-finals.”

‘Friendly loss immaterial’

Argentine striker Pedro Ibarra said his team would rely more on the individual brilliance of their players to advance in the tournament, while naming Sandeep Singh as one of the best drag-flickers in the world and key to India’s performance. The 24-year-old also did not attach much importance to his team’s 2-1 loss to the hosts in their practice match on Tuesday. “It was a friendly match. We were also a bit tired after flying for 15 hours,” he said.

Asked about the security around the tournament, all players expressed satisfaction. “I am happy to see a lot of security measures. The precautions are similar to that at the Olympics,” said Vogels, while Ibarra and South African Marvin Harper were also happy with the security at both the team hotel and the venue.