The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Francisco: like father like son

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Friday, Dec 09, 2005

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Sport - Hockey

Francisco: like father like son

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI: In his first major tournament as skipper of Spain, Francisco Fabregas will be looking forward to leading his team to its second successive Champions Trophy title.

The 28-year-old is, however, "not looking that far," and wants to take it one match at a time.

"Of course, it's a big responsibility to be the captain, but the players know their roles. So it's not that difficult," says Francisco, affectionately called `Kiko.' "It's going to be a team effort."

After the victory at the European Nations Cup at Leipzig (defeating Holland in the final) in September 2005, Spain has arrived here with its players in prime form and full of confidence.

"Ours is a young team. We have six players with more than 100 matches experience and the rest are very young. As I said earlier, it's one match at a time. We play our first match against India. It's not going to be easy. Let's see," says Francisco.

Without a gold in the Champions Trophy in 13 appearances, Spain was always dubbed "the team to watch out for." While it had players with potential, for some reason or the other it repeatedly failed at the doorstep of victory.

The transformation

Under coach Maurits Hendriks, things began to change for the better. In its 14th attempt in Lahore, Spain won the Champions Trophy for the first time when it overwhelmed Holland in the final.

As vice-captain to Juan Escurre, it was a moment to cherish for Francisco who has played in 188 matches for his country. "The win gave us the belief and self-confidence to perform well," says Francisco, who, like his father Francisco Sr., plays centre-half.

Francisco Sr. (called "Tito") is quite a popular name in Spain, having taken part in four Olympics: 1968 at Mexico, '72 Munich, '76 Montreal and '80 at Moscow where Spain finished third.

Unlike his debut match in the 1996 Champions Trophy in Chennai against Australia where he "sweated for the first five minutes and felt shameful to ask for a change," Francisco, the captain, will be keen to make others sweat with his run-ins.

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