Hockey World Cup 2018: India vs Netherlands - 5 talking points

#3 Did the Indians attempt to play to the galleries?

The Indians may have been carried away by the chanting in the crowd

Playing in the midst of a vociferous home crowd can be a boon or a bane, depending on the manner in which the hosts utilize the support.

Sticking to the game plan, however, can be pretty tough for a young team being spurred on from the stands - especially when the loudest cheers emanate when a player displays his spectacular stick skills.

The reactions of the partisan crowd at the Kalinga Stadium fluctuated between deafening roars when the Indians chose to sprint ahead and then descended into a sudden eerie silence whenever the opposition scored a goal.

Loick Luypaert's opening goal in the match against Belgium and Floris van Son's equalizer for Canada were greeted with a mournful hush, and it did, no doubt, require a high level of maturity to remain unaffected by the mood of the spectators.

FIH master-coach Siegfried Aikman was in the stands at Bhubaneswar and told Sportskeeda after the match that the Indians, who had hitherto remained unaffected by the chants of the crowds in the pool matches, seemed to be playing to the galleries in the quarterfinal.

"The chants of 'India, India - 'India Jeethega' were followed by excited screaming when the Indian players were dribbling forward. It made the players unconsciously start dribbling."

"The crowd only cheered when the players were dribbling - and stopped directly when the ball was lost. The players tried to give the crowd what they wanted. Due to that, they started dribbling. The only question is - if that is what we really want, and if it fits the game plan or the situation on the pitch."

While the crowd can hardly be blamed for doing all they could to inspire the team they love, a rather inexperienced Indian side may well be wiser from the experience the next time around.