“I am not a hockey fan but my son saw India win bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and started playing the sport. We came to watch India win but return with a lot of disappointment,” a dejected Prasanto Mohanty, his son Prodip in an India jersey and the tricolour painted on his cheek standing subsequent to him, mentioned.
The Mohanty household like 16,000 others on the Kalinga Stadium noticed India’s World Cup marketing campaign fizzle out. The world No 6 aspect was eradicated by New Zealand, a aspect with gamers doing common jobs who come collectively only some instances in a 12 months, in Sunday’s crossover conflict.
But that was additionally the Tokyo Olympics influence. A bronze medal 41 years within the making had raised expectations. This World Cup is the primary because the 1982 Mumbai version when India went in as Olympic medallists.
It elevated the strain, and India wilted after stepping into as a favorite for the rostrum. “Let alone the crossover, India didn’t look in shape even in the pool stages. When you play a tournament, each time (game) you must improve, not stay at the same level,” mentioned Dutch legend Jacques Brinkman, winner of two Olympic and World Cup titles every.
India’s 2021 Olympics bronze got here in entrance of virtually empty stands at Tokyo’s Oi Hockey Stadium. In distinction, packed stadiums — 21,800 in Rourkela and 16,000 in Bhubaneswar — scores of media personnel asking powerful questions, poor penalty nook (PC) makes an attempt, burden of being Olympic medallists all appeared to overwhelm the gamers.
The Graham Reid-coached aspect had a golden alternative to construct on Tokyo. But India’s watch for a World Cup medal because the 1975 triumph at Kuala Lumpur continues. “I am sure pressure and expectations all come into the mix. But I don’t think it is the only thing. We made mistakes which we don’t normally make. We need to analyse, talk and come up with solutions,” the Aussie coach mentioned.
The foremost cause for India’s debacle was poor PC conversion. Though they began with a 2-0 win over Spain, they missed a number of open probabilities. The ahead line faltered when it got here to changing probabilities. At their exit, India had made probably the most circle entries (94), however of their 49 pictures at purpose within the 4 video games, solely 9 went in.
“We had a lot of circle penetrations but couldn’t convert. Even against New Zealand, we scored three goals which would normally be enough. In the defence, we probably needed to be in front a bit more, and a bit tighter,” Reid mentioned.
In Tokyo, India had began poorly. They scraped previous New Zealand and misplaced 1-7 to Australia earlier than the gamers acquired used to the situations. They then scored successive wins, over Spain, Olympic champions Argentina, Asian Games champions Japan and Great Britain. Six-team teams in Tokyo helped India bounce again. Odisha featured four-team teams with solely the topper immediately qualifying for the quarterfinals.
A significant concern was the poor PC conversion. Only 5 of the 27 PCs have been scored off, a conversion fee of 18.51%. India’s spearhead, skipper and PC specialist Harmanpreet Singh scored as soon as within the 4 video games. The absence of a world class drag-flicker like Rupinder Pal Singh — he retired after Tokyo — harm as the opposite sparkles Amit Rohidas, Nilam Sanjeep Xess and Varun Kumar are largely one dimensional.
A staff wants a number of world class drag-flickers to win tournaments in fashionable hockey. Belgium have 4 — Alexander Hendrickx, Tanguy Cosyns, Tom Boon and Loick Luypaert. Australia have Blake Govers and Jeremy Hayward. Multiple sparkles give pushers extra choices and confuse the primary rushers.
His triple position – captaincy, main the defence and executing PCs – put Harmanpreet below strain. “I know everyone is talking about me not scoring enough. I also wanted to. I tried, but it didn’t happen. When you go on to the field, you don’t think you won’t score, you go in thinking you will,” the very best scorer (18) within the 2021-22 Pro League sounded helpless.
Failing at man-to-man marking, defensive lapses, Manpreet Singh not delivering as playmaker and the midfield led by him not utilizing each the flanks throughout assaults, few aerial balls used to scatter the defence, common lack of possession and never urgent excessive have been the errors India made, within the final group recreation towards Wales and towards New Zealand. “We let ourselves down, throwing the ball away made it difficult. Every time we won the ball, we gave it back. That was the telling factor. At this level you can’t do that.”
There will likely be debate over the gamers chosen for the shootout. Reid believes in youth – he picked younger Shamsher Singh over Akashdeep Singh for the Olympics. That strategy backfired on Sunday. Instead of the skilled Manpreet, Akashdeep and Mandeep Singh, Reid opted for children like Abhishek, Shamsher and Sukhjeet Singh who all missed.
“The most important thing is hockey at the international level, the decision is made via shootouts. In them, I was wondering what India were doing. Harmanpreet, great player, best in the world, but what was he doing? They have to train for shootouts,” mentioned Brinkman.
Though 13 of the 19 gamers at Tokyo have been on the World Cup, India maybe missed the likes of Sumit, Gurjant Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Simranjeet Singh, who scored twice within the bronze playoff in Tokyo towards Germany.
Hardik Singh’s harm after the second recreation harm because the midfielder was India’s greatest participant till then. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh acquired injured at a vital stage of the shootout. “Excuses don’t count. Differences at the top are small. I hope India continue because they are on the right way. The Dutch, for example, won their last World Cup in 1998, which is 25 years ago. It’s not so easy though they have the quality,” Brinkman mentioned.
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
