Indian girls miss chances, fail to enter final after 1-2 loss
Uthra G Chaturvedi
In their first two games, the junior Indian girls had punched above their weight against more fancied rivals. On Friday, however, against Germany, they seemed to have adopted a lethargic approach. And, expectedly, they went down 2-1 to miss out on the final of the four-nation Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament.
The start, though, was not bad. India got the first chance to go ahead in the eighth minute when captain Poonam Rani ran alone for about 25 yards before coming up against the German goalkeeper Friederike Schreiter and shooting straight to her. Four minutes later, Navjot Kaur was tripped and India earned a penalty stroke — the first of the tournament — and Jaspreet Kaur converted to put the hosts in the lead.
But despite the lead, the Indians were lacking the spirit that had marked their previous games. With the Germans playing a typically European close game — packing their defence and going for counterattacks — the Indians found it difficult to find the gaps.
Instead, the Germans started pressing ahead with caution,keeping the defence tight and going up the field a few feet at a time. The Indians, on the other hand, were guilty of profligacy, wasting a couple of chances, even as the forwards lacked coordination and rhythm.
The midfield also failed to hold the game together, leaving huge gaps to be exploited by the Germans. While the Indian defence fumbled, the Germans seemed to play according to a plan. They seemed keen to earn a penalty corner and were successful — they got three in the 25th minute and seven in all, more than India had conceded in their previous two games put together — even though India goalkeeper Sukhmani Virk was impressive.
But just when it seemed the Indians had managed to tide over the pressure, Laura Saenger scored the first of her two goals — predictably off a penalty corner — at the stroke of halftime. And when the teams came back after the break, the Germans struck immediately, converting another penalty corner in the 38th minute.
Thereafter, the Germans were content going back to their defensive play, only venturing out for counterattacks. The Indians, who needed only a draw to move to the final, pushed ahead desperately but sloppy finishing let them down.
India also wasted their two penalty corners and in the 55th minute, Poonam had only the goalkeeper to beat but could not get past. While Germany coach Marc Herbert said his girls were lucky to win the game, India coach Col. BK Subramani admitted that the girls were unable to sustain the intensity of the previous matches. “We have been together only for about three months now. The more they train together and get exposure, the better they will become. I am disappointed with the result but not with the showing of our team,” he said.
NZ in final
Germany, with two wins will play New Zealand in the final after the latter beat Australia 3-2. Natasha Cotton scored twice for New Zealand (18th and 19th) and Sian Fremaux scored once while for Australia, Brooke Peris and Penny Squibb scored. India will play Australia for the third spot.