Despite the chastening World Cup exit two days ago, India men’s head coach Craig Fulton is aiming to finish on a high by beating co-host Belgium in a seventh-eighth classification game on Friday.
India has been well below its best this tournament, but a positive finish against the World No. 2 will provide a much-needed boost to take into the Asian Games, starting next month.
In a chat with Sportstar, the South African spoke about the lack of consistency hurting his side, where he aims for this team to be and more.
It was another disappointing result. Going into the final game, what’s the conversation been with the team in the last couple of days?
Yeah, I think we’ve had a challenge with consistency because we get ourselves up for the big games and then the teams that are ranked around us, we struggle. So, that’s one thing that we want to improve…We found ourselves with great opportunities and we were there for most of the game, three quarters of it, but the inconsistency in the way that we executed and the defence from front to back wasn’t good enough and then we ended up where we are.
We’ve had a hard look at ourselves, had a really good team meeting yesterday and about where we’re at and where we want to be because we know where we want to be, we’re just not there yet. But we know what we’ve got to do to get there. So, the first phase of self-reflection is making sure that we are not putting anything under the carpet or hiding anything that’s not going to help us if we don’t address it. I think we’ve done a good job of all the things that we know we should be doing, can do and have done. We’ve got one more opportunity to finish this World Cup as high as we can.
You spoke a lot about where this team is not there and where you want this team to be. Where exactly is that and what do you need to do to get there?
I think when we play with energy and intensity on and off the ball for 60 minutes, we’re a very dangerous team. So, when we get up for games like Pakistan or Holland, where all teams that are ranked higher than us, then we have it. Teams that are ranked lower around us, for some reason we are inconsistent in that area. So, that’s a real focus point for us.
Can you expand on that?
Look at the intensity when we play Pakistan. Every single time we play Pakistan what does it bring? It brings us to a new level; a high level of energy and good hockey. Yes, we didn’t always play the best hockey against Pakistan in this last game, but we were always 2-3 goals ahead. Then you have a 20-minute period in the beginning which was really, really good.
Really good hockey. We played like we just have to extend that period. Maybe not always go forward to try and score goals, but also manage the ball better and not let the other team in because of our mistakes or their good play, whichever way you want to look at it.
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Then we play Holland in a must-win game and in the three years that I’ve been here, that’s the best stats that we’ve been able to put together. We had more Penalty Corners, more circle entries and we reduced them to five circle entries in the second half and by doing that, we conceded three field goals. There were no penalty corners conceded too. So we’re making the right strides, but the consistency to keep doing it isn’t there. That’s what’s disappointing for us because that’s where we normally are more consistent and have shown that, but that’s to work on.
You mentioned there was good intensity in some games, but not so much in other games. Does that come due to the fitness levels being down?
No, it’s not that. No, it’s being 2-1 ahead at half time, managing that being 0-0, managing that 3-1 down at half time, managing that. They’re all totally different scenarios and it’s all about mental first before that, That’s what we’re working on.
But let’s just think about this tournament, right? So of the top four teams coming into this tournament, there’s only one of them playing the semifinal: that’s Holland. Belgium is out, England and Australia are playing 5-6. Germany, Argentina and Spain, who are ranked 4-6-7, are in the semis
.So, success is not a linear thing. All teams are trying to do the right things at the right time and it’s not always possible. We know we didn’t play as well as we can, but we still created enough chances to keep us in the fight for the semifinal. We just didn’t take it and we conceded some goals. And that’s OK.
We’re also building towards the Asian Games [this year]. None of these teams have another Asian Games or an Olympic qualifier three weeks after the World Cup. And that’s not an excuse, it’s just reality. That’s what we have to manage. We firmly want to finish as high as we possibly can against Belgium on Friday, then go again.
Any positives for you to take from this World Cup as you build towards the Asian Games?
I think because we’ve had this World Cup in a cauldron of pressure, it’s going to set us up with lessons learned going forward. Because I think we will definitely be a better team for it if we can take the lessons from here and use it going forward. And I know we can do that because we’ve done it before and we’re going to do it again.
Published on Aug 27, 2026
