Brasa apologetic about ‘sad’ situation

KAMESH SRINIVASAN

The Indian team was understandably dejected about losing the seventh place match to Argentina, and coach Jose Brasa was apologetic about the ‘sad’ situation.

The coach stressed that the team expected to beat Argentina, and had everything going in its favour in terms of possession and numerous chances, but had failed to capitalise on the favourable flow.

“The problem was that we didn’t score in the first 25 minutes. They scored the goals. After being behind it was very difficult for us,” said Brasa, even as he praised the opponents for the sharp counter-attacks that brought a flurry of goals and literally finished the match.

Keeping a straight face, Brasa said that the Indian team had problems inside the ‘D’ both in attack and defence. He was categorical that the team had to tighten its defence and improve its finish.

Saying that everything depended on the support the team gets towards better training and would determine whether there would be slight or dramatic improvement when the team gears up for the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in the latter part of the season.

Suggesting that the team had a good future, Brasa stated that the inclination may be to go for junior talent if players of equal calibre were found in the ranks. He said that the tilt was towards retaining the experienced players for the World Cup.

“It also depends on what we will find on our way,” he said, hinting that availability of raw talent was the key to moulding a world class team.

He was categorical that Sandeep Singh had ‘more or less’ enjoyed similar success rate in the past, and he was the best bet to take the penalty corner drills after all the options and variations had been considered.

The inability of the team to effectively mark key players of the opposite team also came for criticism from the coach, and he said that the players had perhaps struggled to stick to the game plan in the flow of the match.

“We need more training and more matches,” said the coach, highlighting the fact that hoping for good results without the right preparation was a futile exercise.

Talking about Prabhjot Singh not being at his best, the coach said that it was sad as he was a player capable of conjuring up goals if he played at his best.

Captain Rajpal Singh said that he was never satisfied with his performance, but said that the team had done well to finish eighth as compared to the past.

He was smart in responding to a question whether he would take a leaf from the Pakistan team and quit, Rajpal shot back, questioning about the fate of the past Indian teams in the last few editions of the World Cup, and questioned, “you decide whether I should resign or not.”

Both Rajpal Singh and Prabhjot Singh had to endure a slogan shouting section of the crowd after the match. Prabhjot said that he accepted the limitations of the team, but said that conceding early goals had affected the eventual performance of the team.