India target full points against Korea

A relatively young Indian team will have to play out of their skin and avoid silly errors against a formidable South Korea on Tuesday if they desire to keep their unbeaten run intact at the inaugural hockey Asian Champions Trophy.

Having started the tournament on a high with a 5-0 pounding of hosts China, India suffered a setback of sorts when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Japan, largely due to a lapse in concentration from the defensive line which led to a last-minute equaliser.

But against the nimble-footed Koreans the Indians cannot afford to relax as a defeat at this stage can jeopardise their chances of a podium finish. The Indians are also aware that the Koreans are a much superior side in terms of fitness as well as experience.

Under new coach Michael Nobbs, the Indians have exhibited a new style of hockey in this tournament — a blend of India’s aggression and Australia’s sharpness — which so far has paid dividends. But India has a chance against the experienced Koreans if they can hold their rivals in the midfield and cut the runs down the flanks.

The Indian defence of Rupinderpal Singh and V Raghunath have played well so far in this tournament but need more experience to soak pressure.

For India, the two key areas against Korea will be penalty corners and midfield. Gurbaj Singh is in good form and Ravi Pal, though erratic, can become the fulcrum if he plays through the middle in tandem with Roshan Minz on the left and Rajpal on the right.

Learning from mistakes

The Indians also need to do away with their mistakes, such as ball trapping during penalty corners, and giving away soft goals in the dying stages of the match against an opportunistic Korean side. The good thing for India is that they don’t have any major injury concern ahead of the last three crucial matches.

India coach Nobbs is realistic about his team’s chances in the tournament. “As I said earlier, you cannot expect them to do miracles in a month. Everything takes time and when we play teams like South Korea, we would realise what are the negatives and the positives,” Nobbs said. On the other hand, the Koreans are slightly better placed than India having won both their matches so far.

Pace and man-to-man marking are Korea’s forte and against India they are sure to adopt these tactics. However, the Indian think-tank is thinking too much about the threat. “There is no doubt about Korea as a team. And neither do we have a team that will step back. It will be a hard, tough match and hopefully we will come out richer with the experience,” Nobbs said.