The Tribune: and they fall down

Hosts India suffer 0-1 loss at the hands of Argentina in the semis, out of title race

Indervir Grewal

The Argentinian players stood on the blue turf — replete with puddles of water — with their arms raised. They stared into the black sky as raindrops glittered in the brightness of the floodlights, the players’ body language suggesting relief more than joy. The Olympics champions pulled off a draining win in incredibly “tough conditions” to sink India and leave the ardent home fans cold, drenched and heartbroken.

The sun on Friday had come up behind a glacial sky, and the drizzle that started in the morning turned into a downpour half-an-hour before the classification match between England and the Netherlands. After a scrappy 1-0 win, the Netherlands players had said that the conditions were tough. “I hope it improves for the semifinals,” Seve van Ass said.

But the conditions worsened. After an hour of uncertainty about whether the semifinal would be played, it was confirmed that the match was on. The wipers were out and volunteers worked diligently to remove excess water from the turf.

Despite predictions that the stands were going to be empty — “The people of Odisha can’t handle the cold,” said a local journalist. The conditions of Friday were wet, windy and cold. Yet, the stands were a sea of colourful umbrellas as supporters came in large numbers. But their hopes for a fast and thrilling contest, as is expected from every India match, were dashed soon.

Within minutes of the pushback, the puddles were back. After initial pressure by India, the contest, between the predominantly counterattacking sides, turned into a cautious display of holding possession.

The goal

It was perhaps because of the waterlogging that India played cautiously, keeping possession and moving the ball around a lot. Judging the speed of the passes became difficult and both teams tried to play short and sure passes. But two minutes into the second quarter, everyone’s biggest fear came true. Rupinder Pal Singh’s pass to the left-half came to a sharp halt way short of the intended man, and the interception resulted in Argentina’s first penalty corner.

While India asked for a video referral and waited for the decision, Argentina practised the push to the top of the circle for a few times before a peeved Manpreet Singh picked up the ball. In the conditions, penalty corners were hard to take as was seen in the England-Netherlands match. Either the push had been too slow or the drag-flicker wasn’t able to get enough purchase on the ball. But Gonzalo Peillat had no such trouble as Rio Olympics top-scorer fired the ball high to the left of the goalkeeper. It turned out to be Argentina’s only penalty corner of the match, and it proved enough.

Slow pitch

The slow pitch was always going to favour Argentina’s defensive game and hamper India’s fast-paced style of hockey. Conceding first is never ideal against Argentina, but in these condition — with attacks hard to build – it proved fatal for India. As expected, Argentina killed the pace, while India tried to push on, unsuccessfully, before the halftime.

As the excess water was again cleared, India had a few minutes at the start of the second half to create some chances. However, Argentina cleverly held possession, slowed the game before going for surprise attacks. But what had given Argentina the goal, provided India with a great chance. A pass hit a puddle and was intercepted by Akashdeep Singh before he earned a penalty corner. This time, it was Manpreet’s turn to practise the push. But India couldn’t cope with the conditions and failed to make the chance count.

After another frustrating quarter, India came out a changed team after the last break. They unleashed some direct, long passes to deep forward. With a couple of half chances, Argentina’s midfield shook. India gained in confidence and the passes began to flow. They came close, getting two chances in the fifth minute of the last quarter. And with about seven minutes left, the long balls started, trying to create uncertainty in the circle.

The last few minutes were all about India exerting non-stop pressure. But the Argentinians were incredibly surefooted, clean with their tackles and made dead stops in the circle. In the end, India couldn’t breach the Argentinian wall, but not for lack of trying. “I am disappointed with the loss, obviously,” said India coach Sjoerd Marijne. “But not with the performance. I can’t blame anyone.”

The way India played in such conditions, Marijne was eager to see how his team would have played against the Olympics champions in normal conditions. “I won’t look replay of this match because these were not normal conditions,” Marijne said. “Both teams could not play their best game. It is how it is. They played better in the conditions, took their only chance, while we couldn’t,” Marijne added.