Hamburg(Germany): We outplayed Pan American Champions Argentina for a thumping 4-1 victory in the opening match of the 9th Hamburg Masters on Friday while Spain and the title contenders Germany settled for a 2-2 draw in the another match.
I am happy to have started the campaign the way we did. Not often – certainly not after Argentina drubbed us 3-5 in the Milton Keynes World Cup Qualifier in 2001 – we defeated Argentina so comprehensively as we did on Friday. Of course, I was the proud coach when my boys mauled them 6-1 in the Hobart Junior World Cup final — also in 2001.
We were aggressive from the word go. Argentina, with as many as 14 players from the KL World Cup team, tried to match our speed in the beginning failing which they wanted to slow down our pace, with overcrowding tactics. We frustrated them on both counts. We dictated the terms and took control of the proceedings.
The game therefore opened up, resulting in many goals. Such approach has been my theme song, and I will follow this for every other match too. The results of such positivism is there for everyone to see.
Notwithstanding one- sided score sheet, I will give due credits to the Argentinean forwards. They created numerous openings, matching every attack of us. That they got six penalty corners one more than us proved this point.
But our defence, whom I did not hesitate to castigate in the run-up for lack of consistency, for once rose to the occasion. Goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan in particular was in his elements, blocking almost three sure goals from impossible angles with immaculate reflexes. But our forwards especially Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur continued to miss even sitters.
The highlight of the match of course was penalty corner, both execution and defence. We excelled in both the areas which paved way for this memorable victory. Dilip Tirkey, as usual, set the tone by scoring off the first penalty corner before Jugraj Singh and Baljit Singh Dhillon added one each. Three goals out of five attempts is a good augury, our target level too.
Jorge Lombi, whom many consider inventor of drag flick technique, could not get past Devesh in all his five attempts. Argentina scored its first goal off their last penalty corner when frustrated Lombi gave way for the most experienced player on his side, Carlos Retegui (caps 242). Our charging was perfect, Jugraj even got injured in the process once while coming daringly on the flight of Lombi’s flick.
Devesh proved that mastering Sohail Abbas’ missiles was not fluke, by preventing the likes of Lombis to do any damage on Friday. For the last seven minutes that Devesh was substituted, Kamaldeep Singh too was a picture of confidence. So did colts V.S. Vinay and Sandeep Michael who played briefly after our 3-1 lead. Tejbir Singh and Vikram Pillay were rested.
Soon after scoring his second goal of tour in the 64th minute, Gagan got injured. His ear was stitched. I fear whether he would play against Germany on Saturday.
I was told that some press reported `walk out’ by us in Disburg Test on Wednesday. It’s not correct. After Kawalpreet Singh was shown yellow card, we wanted to know the reason. Instead of satisfying the players, the umpire flashed another yellow card for captain Dhanraj Pillay as if to discipline the whole team. In the process, the game was halted for a few minutes. Nothing was unusual in these. Be assured, we will never walkout whatever may be the provocation.
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