S2H Team
Losing four matches out of four on their tour of Germany may make dismal reading at first sight but viewed in perspective India’s women’s team could well take home a few positives from the recently-concluded series.
Rani Rampal’s girls couldn’t have started the series on a more devastating note than finding themselves 0-4 down at half-time in the first match in Dusseldorf. But the positives started from there. They conceded just one goal in the second half and just five more in three matches that followed.
The scores read 0-5, 0-1, 0-2 and 1-2 in the series. Still, it would have been grossly disappointing if the team finished the series without scoring even once but Lalremsiami made sure India got on to the scoreboard with a goal nine minutes from the end, reducing the margin and spurring her side towards forcing what would have been a remarkably creditable draw.
For all the disappointment of the heavy defeat in the first match, No. 9-ranked India started and ended the encounter by forcing penalty corners. The defence, for their part, coped well with the pressure applied by the World No. 3 nation which has in its cabinet World and Olympic gold medals and are a fixture in the top bracket.
Goalkeeper Savita Punia and Rajani Etimparu acquitted themselves creditably and, by all accounts and impressions, inspired their colleagues in defence to put in tenacious and gritty performances that all too often frustrated their illustrious opponents.
Going by reports, the Indian defence was kept busy but the attack often had the rival citadel under threat through counter-attacks and the odd penalty corner, very often against the run of play, kept the Germans on their toes.
However, one gets the feeling that the Indians could do with some sharpness in front of goal, not just from the set-piece, but also in open play as circle penetrations and shots on target appeared rare.
The matches may not have been official which implies that ranking points were not up for grabs and international caps wouldn’t be added to the players collection but, from India’s point of view at least, the encounters were precious.
The Indian women have played Germany on average just once in five years going by recent chronicles and that’s a grossly unfavourable stat if they are to make progress to the higher echelons of the world.
A tour of Argentina just a month earlier produced three well-contested with the hosts losing two 2-3, 0-2, drawing one, 1-1, with another match washed out. Against Argentina, the World No. 2 side, that isn’t a bad performance by any reckoning. Add the results to the German tour and you have a 7-0-1-6 (P-W-D-L) with 4 goals scored against 16 conceded.
Disappointingly, perhaps, there were no victories but the significance of the other statistics deserve a closer look. Deleting the four-goal blitz in the first match against Germany, it would appear that the team possesses an adept defence but an attack that could do with some more firepower.
Something that the coaching panel headed by Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne must surely be working on.