The Hindu : Sport : The Indians left the job half done

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 08, 2006

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The Indians left the job half done

Pargat Singh

Need to pay more attention to strengthening the defence

Indian hockey has lamented wasted opportunities at the start of major tournaments for several decades. The same story was repeated in the World Cup's opening contest against Germany, where the Indian team came close to the country's best start for a long time.

The agonising last-minute goal that India conceded to Germany put paid to hopes of splitting points after trailing twice in the match that marked some fine ball-interception by our players.

Adding to the pain of losing a match that we ought to have drawn was in watching German striker Moritz Fuerste create so much space while penetrating the Indian defence from the left flank to set up the decider for Christopher Zeller.

I would like to believe that our defenders ought not to have found it too difficult to block that last move after giving a fine display.

India need to pay more attention to strengthening the defence as most teams these days possess one or two exceptional strikers who are capable of producing an extraordinary goal if the defenders lapse in concentration.

Good work wasted

Traditionally, an India-Germany contest is always a close encounter, and that belief was underlined once again by this contest. One last-minute lapse in negotiating a German move wasted all the good work of the evening.

The Germans are always looking for dominating ball possession. Their game is built around holding the ball and then as the game progresses they build pressure on the rivals.

Although both teams were tentative and over-watchful in the first session, we allowed the Germans the luxury of holding the ball through mid-field possession.

The Indian players should have come out to attack more often in the first session itself. That would have put the German defence under some pressure and disrupt the way they wanted to play.

Most pleasing moment

The most pleasing moment for me was the manner in which India scored its second goal and bounced back to a 2-2 parity six minutes from the hooter.

Western Railways boy Shivendra's display was a heartening feature on his World Cup debut. Not overawed by the occasion, he showed how opportunist strikers can transform the destiny of a team.

Scoring his second goal against the run of play, Shivendra's field goal should have spurred the Indian team in this tournament, but the focus will now be in ensuring that the players' morale is not shattered.

A job begun well is half done, and the Indian team was close to starting with a draw that would have given them a tremendous boost. Now, we've been left ruing bad luck and fighting with our back to the wall. — PTI

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