By K. Arumugam
Indian sports fans may have been taken aback by the heavy defeat suffered by their women’s hockey team at Dusseldorf, Germany, on Saturday. However, the 0-5 drubbing at the hands of the hosts needs to be viewed in proper perspective.
The German women have been a top-ranked team in the world for long. They have won every title on offer – from the Olympics to European Championship and the World Cup.
History, however, is not the only factor.
Legend Natascha Keller being tackled by India’s Saba Anjum (facing) and Ritu Rani
What counts is familiarity between the two nations. India and Germany have hardly met in the international arena unlike Australia, New Zealand or Argentina, the other top teams.
Between 2010 and now, Indian women have engaged 33 countries. played Japan 30 times, China 20 times, New Zealand 25 times. But played Germany only rarely. In terms of matches played, India Germany ranks 23 out of 33!
The stat simply states the state of affairs. In the last 11 years (2010 to date), India and Germany have met only four times. This is a very poor contact rate if you want to beat a top team.
Last time the two nations played each other in Valencia, Spain, in a one-off match when India defeated Germany 2-1!
Before that the teams met twice in 2010 – five years before the Valencia encounter.
At a 4-nation tournament in Essen, in June 2010, Germany led 3-1 but the Surinder Kaur’s India bounced back, netting twice to draw the match 3-3. However, in less than three months, they met at the Rosario World Cup where the Germans were ready and alert to thrash India 4-1.
After Rosario, they met just once – at Valencia, mentioned above – and since then only now in Dusseldorf!
The stark fact here is that India and Germany meet on average just once in five years!
The reality that when you meet a strong rival without playing them regularly, one-sided result occur. This was what happened in the first test on Saturday.
When they were in more frequent contact with each other, a decade earlier, India ran Germany close even if they didn’t beat them. For example at the 2002 Madrid World Cup it was a solitary goal, struck by the legendary Natascha Keller that gave top-ranked Germany victory.
For whatever reasons, India and Germany hardly meet. The tour somewhat helped reduce this historical vacuum.
Though India lost the first match 0-5 after trailing by 0-4 at half time, there has been improvement since then. In the next encounter on Sunday, Rani Rampal’s girls could pin down the hosts. It was, like at Madrid mentioned above, a solitary goal that denied the visitors a deserving draw.
It is therefore important for aspiring teams to be in contact with each other on the playfield lest, the slightly better team overwhelms the other. This is exactly what happened on Saturday at Dusseldorf.
There could be many more reasons for such a one-sided match but only the coach and support staff can analyze and reveal those when they return. Meanwhile, it’s safe to conclude that contact with leading teams is a must to avoid such humiliation.
It’s good augury that the girls bounced back and restricted defeat in the next encounter to just a 0-1 score line.