India have to learn the art of winning

NEW DELHI: The group stage is over, India are in line to finish seventh and there is little excitement about that. Hockey has come home after years and that surely has got something to do about this despondency.

Well, fans are fans and they were probably hoping for a miracle but even the critics are itching to dip their pens in vitriol. Is it fair to pan this Indian hockey team? Was the team really good enough to have made the top six?

Well, the reality is they are not as good as the top European teams. They can match them at times, even play with more flair, but the Indians have yet to learn the art of winning games. They still have to learn some nuances of modern hockey, which is constantly changing with new rules and interpretations.

The expectations arose after the Pakistan game. The Indians moved like a team and like a dream. The obvious edge to the rivalry added to the excitement. After that it was a ride through a difficult, at times uncharted, terrain. In almost all the other games, India woke up late. First, Australia punctured their bubble of enthusiasm with a ruthless display and after that the team was always playing catch-up with ground reality.

They were below par against Spain and were then surprised by England’s clinical, workmanlike approach. From there, their story of the World Cup became a story of fightbacks. They fought with their backs to the wall against England and almost held them. And then, they managed to hold South Africa in a game which was theirs. But that was a very valuable draw – which brings us to the key point – Has it gone so wrong for India?

Not really. The No. 12 team has already made the top-eight grade. India has not done that since Sydney 1994 when they finished fifth. Sure, they had the home advantage and fans packed the stands in support. But the resolve to move up was there. The team has rarely shown the mental strength that it has here. And that can make a lot of difference in the future.

Coach Jose Brasa was in fact happy about the fighting spirit when he said on Monday night: “We have conceded early goals but not late goals, which was a problem in the past.”

Beyond this, many problems do exist. The biggest disappointment for India has been the defensive errors and their inability to score through penalty corners. Packed with three drag flickers, India were hoping to surprise the rivals. They were forced to look for field goals midway through the match against England. A lot of work needs to be done on the defence, more so with the game becoming faster due to the new self-pass rule. You blink and you are dead.

The midfielders, led by playmaker Sardar Singh, one of the very few world class players in the team, have not fared badly, though one wishes they could learn to attack through the middle more often. They kept running into walls and were forced to open up flanks. The forwards have been good only in patches. But more on the players later as India still have a match to go.

And yes, a word on the controversy over TV referrals during the match against South Africa: It’s a grey area and has to be sorted out. Brasa decided not to attack the technical officials on this. “I don’t think the Indian team has been victimized. Nothing has been done on purpose. Our boys are nice players… nobody would have anything against them.”

Surely, nobody would but what Brasa did not say was that his players need to be meaner and smarter on the field. Nice guys don’t always win.