Hamburg(Germany): After defeating Spain hands down (4-2) on Sunday, we annexed the Hamburg Masters here at Uhlenhorster Club, Germany. A second successive title for us in what I can describe as the `Jubilant June’. Exactly two Sundays ago, like here in a tight field, we won the Men’s Challenge Cup in Australia.
Germany who played after us on Sunday needed an outright victory for the title, but the fighting Argentina had other ideas. They fell in arrears four times but rose like a Phoenix from ashes to clear all of them to enforce a 4-4 draw on the hosts. This ensured us the gold as we had a point more than Germany. Spain finished third and Argentina fourth.
My words to my team on Sunday before our Spain match was, ‘let us put German defeat behind us and go for all out now’. My boys could not have responded to my message more than producing such a thriller of a contest — which our last match in the Hamburg Masters was.
This punch of players at my disposal is mentally tough. ‘Yesterday is thing of past’ in their mindset. This was the reason how the Spaniards, trained by Holland import Maurits Hendricks, were put on their back feet throughout the match, though technically they scored two goals against our four.
Kawalpreet Singh gave the lead — again from the first penalty corner as we have done in the previous two matches — in the 3rd minute. Gagan Ajit and Deepak Deepak Thakur added one each before Eduardo Aguilar converted Spain’s second short corner at the stroke of break time.
Captain Juan Escaree further cut down our lead off their fourth penalty corner to give a semblance of a fight but ever reliable Dilip Tirkey put the issue beyond doubt. His third goal, a carpet drive, in as many matches came in the 59th minute. I introduced Vinay and Kawalpreet Singh at this stage.
We came here against the backdrop of not having won any match in three appearances. With two wins, ten goals for and six against, with a narrow defeat to Germany, we return reputation enhanced. We led all three matches at halftime. Morale of my boys are up.
We could not conquer the German frontier on Saturday. The hosts, fully aware of our new-found prowess in converting penalty corners, have tactfully avoided everything that might end in giving away them. We got just one penalty corner and converted it too! The umpires, willing to flash green cards at will, almost psyched our players too. We got three greens, all avoidable.
The first half was ours but in the second half we bucked under pressure. Instead of developing attacks, our defenders started making blind hits in a hurry to clear our area. By this, perhaps we fell into their trap. Germany scored all their goals in this session.
Even after Germany took the 3-2 lead in the 63rd minute, I was confident of hitting back. We did it many times in the recent past, but it was not to be on Saturday, certainly not for want of efforts. We attacked relentlessly but goals would not simply come on. The Germans were lucky to walk away with three points. Coach Bernhard Peters admitted to this in so many words when I met him after the match.
Nevertheless, everyone here — the crowd, coaches and media — understood that we have become a force to reckon with. Gaining such confidence among them is the major gain of this brief tour.
It’s not exaggeration that we were the focus team here. `Inko kaise nikalein’ has been the worry of other teams. In the past our rivals were wary of our competitiveness. We were taken lightly. Things have changed for better now. A perceptional change is clearly emerging among the comity of hockey nations. We have come out of chrysalis of self-doubt and the resultant under-performance.
To that extent I interacted with people here, all have given an impression that our profile has improved by leap and bounds. This is good for Indian hockey. This obviously increases our responsibility to perform –- to outperform others, to put it more precisely. Our next outing, Champions Trophy in Amsterdam will be the acid test for our progress. 593
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