PATNA: In the morning after the night before, the warm afterglow of a big win can tend to fade. Players may add some context or coaches could point to bigger challenges once they have safely tucked away their shiny metal discs. But Craig Fulton didn't even wait till Monday morning to provide context and perspective to India's Asia Cup win in Rajgir.
Speaking to media in the mixed zone even as his wards lined up to pose with the trophy for the gram, he said: "there's two different types of hockey," when replying to a question on 'the floor and ceiling of the team at his disposal'. "There's Asian hockey and then there's European hockey. All the power sits in Europe, in a way, and, obviously, Australia."
It's true; in each of the last seven World Cups going back to 1998, the final has featured an all European clash or Australia facing one European outfit. The Olympics is a similar story. Going back the last 10 Games since 1988, eight finals has featured Europe v. Europe or Australia v. Europe.
That, really, is India's challenge with this group of players. Asian dominance was the bare minimum and they have achieved a threepeat of continental crowns in the last two years. The World Cup, though, has proved beyond this ever-improving group over the past decade, around the time when they began medalling at FIH blue-riband events.
Hockey India's top-brass — the selectors, chief Dilip Tirkey — have already started working towards a plan centred around competing with the best at next year's World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Some seniors may be moved on
That plan revolves around building sufficient depth ahead of next year's multi-pronged approach towards tackling Asian Games as well as the World Cup, two events sandwiched within 45 days.
Both are important in their own right; the Asian Games winners get an Olympic berth while the World Cup is one of the sport's standalone special competitions. To ensure the team has no passengers in their ranks, some senior players will be phased out of the squad.
The original plan was to convey the message to them a few months after Paris Games but the top management delayed the beginning of that process after the medal in Paris. "The selectors are taking on board information from the Pro League and from the tournament," HI head Tirkey said. He suggested that there will be some changes to the personnel heading into the World Cup.
While he refused to discuss names, it's believed that some Olympic medallists may be in the firing line.
Fulton added: "We are trying to build something here... depth. So that we can go and challenge the other teams in Europe. That's the honest truth, that's what we are trying to do."
How did they get it right at this tournament after suffering through Europe? "I think Australia was really important (the squad went played a series of matches against them Down Under just before the Asia Cup began)," Fulton said. "I knew we were still playing well in the Pro League, we just didn't get the results. When we came back, we had a good training camp... I knew we were on track and then we just had to adapt to the heat. We finished strong."
Once they adapted to the conditions and their forwards rediscovered their mojo, only one result was going to be possible.