In the Hockey World Cup 2026, the Indian men's team had made a good start by defeating Wales 3-1 but gave up in the very next match. Team India had to face a crushing defeat of 2-4 against England. Despite taking the lead in the first half, India's path to the semi-finals has become difficult due to poor defense in the last two quarters. Now to reach the second round, it will have to win against Pakistan at any cost on Wednesday (19 August).
England has made it to the second round from Pool-D. Now only one team can go ahead from this pool. India is currently at second position with 3 points. Pakistan is at third position and Wales is at fourth position. Both teams have 1-1 points. Wales and Pakistan had played a draw with each other. Earlier, England had defeated Wales 4-1.
Team India needs only victory to go to the second round. Looking at the Pakistan team in front, it is considered certain that it will go to the next round. 8-time Olympic champions India and 4-time World Cup winners Pakistan may have a proud history of on-field rivalry, but almost all the previous matches between these Asian giants have been mismatches.
The Indian team had won 7-1 and 4-3 over Pakistan in the Europe leg of the Pro-League in London just before the World Cup. The Pakistani team last defeated India in the 2016 Champions Trophy. Since then there has been a huge difference in the performance graphs of India and Pakistan. The Indian team has won two consecutive Olympic medals, while Pakistan, the most successful team of the World Cup, has returned to the tournament after 8 years. She finished last in the FIH Pro-League after losing all the matches.
A win against Pakistan will take India to the second round. Wales team is also in the race but it will have to defeat a strong team like England by a big margin, which is not possible. India's goal average is better than Wales. In such a situation, Team India is a strong contender to reach the next round. However, she will not be able to carry any points in the next round. This is because the England team has reached the second round from Pool-D. England had defeated India, due to which they will move ahead with 3 points.
According to the new format of the World Cup, in the second round, the top-2 teams from Pool-D will face the top-2 teams from Pool-A. If India reaches the next round, it will have to face teams like Argentina and Netherlands. Both the teams are above India in the rankings. Therefore, India's path to the semi-finals has become very difficult. The team captained by Harmanpreet Singh will have to pull off a big upset in the second round to reach the top-4 and at the same time, it will have to pray that the results of other teams also go in its favour. However, this does not seem to be possible considering India's weak defence.
