The Hockey World League Semi-Finals have begun and as Indians we can look back with a mixture of joy and dejection at the results of our men’s and women’s teams first engagements.
The ladies put up a spirited show and held their own against host nation Belgium, narrowly losing by a solitary goal and could have come out on even terms had it not been for a goal line save by a diving Belgian defender. There was so little to choose between the closely ranked 12th and 13th ranked teams and it is rather unfortunate that our girls came out at the wrong end of the stick.
The ninth-ranked men, on the other hand, continued their winning belief and came from behind to win a hard fought match against 16th-ranked France by 3-2. One witnessed the hand of coach Paul van Ass’s methodology of total hockey – in non-possession – all getting back in numbers and keeping the defensive structure tight and compact whilst in ball possession – the lines supporting one another thereby having more options to pass as well as leaving no gaps in case of a turnover. Yes, lots of positives as the players freely interchanged positions and the entire team worked as a unit in attack and defence. To sum it up, it was our good organisational structure that earned us a hard earned victory and winning ways to start the tournament.
The eves play against fourth-ranked New Zealand in the next game and in my opinion should take the battle to them. In attack, engage a high press and push two strikers high up into the deep zones and use the help side with playing passes to the open side especially in the opposition half. In defence, get closer to their opponents by tracking the ball all over the pitch and ensure a guard defender at all times.
The men now play Poland in the next game and again it will be a hard fought game as it is a very physical team, with hard running capacity and although a predominantly defence oriented team that plays on the break, they have the skills to take a player one on one. In addition they have an excellent goalkeeper in Pacanowski and a good penalty corner flicker in Bratkowski.
India must be strong on the ball, not give soft turnovers, move the ball around much faster thereby increasing the ball speed when relaying the passes, use the width as much as possible and push up captain and central midfielder Sardar Singh as a free man just behind the strikers where in my opinion he is most effective and dangerous as he can give his penetrative passes as well as has the ability to dodge and get into the circle. Try and earn as many penalty corners as possible and give new flickers Manpreet Singh and Jasjit Kullar the opportunity to gain the confidence and experience for the bigger tests to come at Rio. Yes, by all means we must play to our attacking strengths but remember to close the back door and maintain the defensive structure.
It’s always good to start a tournament with a win but keeping in mind the ultimate goal “OLYMPIC GLORY”, the motto for the next game should be to “MAKE WINNING A HABIT”.