"We are the best of the rest, now it's time to make it to the top eight," said Sjoerd Marijne before India's opening game of the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup 2026.
Five days later, that top eight is exactly where Marijne and his team are going. It says many things about this team in how they've gone and fought toe-to-toe against higher-ranked opponents in China and England, but it says most that Marijne is an absolutely world-class coach.
Five years on from that quarterfinal win against Australia at the Tokyo Olympics, the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen saw another chapter written in the history of Indian women's hockey: they have at least equaled their best performance at a women's World Cup since 1978, when they finished 7th. Since then, an 8th-placed finish in 2012 is the best that India have managed.
That this result has come from an outfit that was down in the dumps in the last few years, makes it even more creditable. India had finished bottom of the FIH Pro League in 2025, before coach Harendra Singh was eventually sacked. They were soundly beaten at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023 under Janneke Schopman and then didn't even qualify for the Paris Olympics.
That is the team Marijne came into, and he had six months to work his magic - first to take the team to the World Cup through the qualifiers, and then to ready them for the World Cup.
He did so by first focusing on the fitness of the team, getting it to a level where he knew that India wouldn't be outrun by any team in the world. That was so important in their final group game against England, which they drew 0-0. They had to produce a backs-to-the-wall defensive job in the second half, and that would've not been possible if the players weren't fit enough to keep running.
Along the way, he has made some big calls, none more so than the decision to make Savita Punia (India's undisputed no.1 for so long) alternate quarters with Bichu Devi Khariba. He has stuck with this philosophy throughout the World Cup, and in the dying seconds of the match against England, when India needed to cling to that 0-0, it was Bichu who produced the save that kept India in the tournament.
Bichu's save was a result of the explicit confidence that Marijne and the coaching team have on her, but that confidence had been built up the hard way in the first place. With Savita undergoing ankle surgery and missing the World Cup qualifiers, Bichu had shone in her stead. This decision to alternate was a direct result of that. In fact, Savita had told ESPN before India left for the World Cup that Bichu was ready for senior hockey, and Marijne has made sure to not waste that form she's in.
In a microcosm, this goalkeeping situation, speaks to Marijne's management of this India squad. It's one with a superb mix of youth and experience throughout: Be it Sushila Chanu and Shilpi Dabas in defence, or Neha Goyal and Sakshi Rana in midfield, or Navneet Kaur and Rutuja Pisal in attack, the pattern is the same. This ensures India aren't losing their heads when put under pressure, but that there is also youthful vigour and endless running through the sixty minutes.
The success of this strategy speaks to the core of Marijne's skills: his ability to improve individuals. Baljeet Kaur was in and out of the side as an attacker under both Harendra and Schopman but now, Marijne has found a role for her as a hard-running wing-back in his 3-4-3 system. Navneet's production has gone up in her new-found role as the floating centre-forward in the 3-4-3. The likes of Shilpi, Ishika, and Bichu herself have all upped their game under Marijne's tutelage.
It shouldn't surprise Indian fans. After all, this is exactly what the Dutchman did with the likes of Salima, Nikki Pradhan, and Lalremsiami during his first stint in charge of this team, which ended with that monumental fourth place in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Now those players have become experienced, and Marijne is using them to improve the youngsters, as well as themselves in the process.
India's progress at this World Cup is proof that those long camps at the Sports Authority of India facility in Bengaluru have paid off. India worked on controlling counterattacks, they worked on their penalty corner defence, they worked on their finish of chances. At the end of the group stage, India have eight goals in three games and have only conceded three. When it really mattered, they kept a clean sheet against a side ranked better than them. Planned to perfection.
And so, India move on. The challenges in the next pool phase will be stiffer, not least their first match against the Netherlands on Friday evening. But if there's one thing that Sjoerd Marijne teams will do, it's fight. This Indian team will fight; they will scrap. That is, after all, the Marijne way.
India are in the top eight. They can dream of more... because Sjoerd Marijne has built quite a team. Again.