Germany outplays India in all areas of the game

Building team is not a run of the mill stuff. Nor does success come without proper team is built. The 18 players wielding their sticks here in Chandigarh for the Indian honours learnt the lessons hard way on Friday. The Germans, with their national Federation Chief among the audiences, gladdened a handful of their supporters — with their scoring prowess, with clinical moves.

Only a couple of days ago, in their first meet, India walked away with honours, but today the tables were turned. Barring a few spells in the last quarters, India hardly was in control of things.

Despite India taking the lead through a right flank solo by Tushar Khandker, the young Germans blocked the Indian midfield flow effectively. Unlike in the previous encounter, Germany came with a strategy of man to man marking. Indian forwards succumbed it.

It is easy to blame the forwards, easier to put the defenders on the guillotine block. The problem here is total performance of the team, which left much to be desired. Segmental approach is not the answer when the whole team under-delivers.

One thing conspicuous of course is lack of bench strength or effective use of rolling substitutions. It is questionable why Adrian is not worth a try, or for that matter Raghunath. Full seventy minutes for Dilip and Sandeep in all the matches played so far is not credit to them, but discredit to the discretion coach Harendra enjoys in this area.

One defeat cannot be the bedrock on which performance of a coach could reasonably be assessed. Two more matches are yet to come off. There is time to regroup, re-strategize and re-energize the team. Winning and losing is secondary as long as things go the way one plans.

If the way the forwards attempt to flaunt their individualism and the rivals rip apart your midfield, Indian carry the old patterns into the Punjab Gold Cup. Look at India’s show against Germany and Netherlands so far. Forget about points earned or lost. Are we improving after each match. Here in lies the true meaning of this tournament.

The heavy defeat the Germans inflicted on the full Indian side is an eye-opener.