India put the trouncing they received from Australia behind and came up with a relatively better showing against Argentina on Wednesday, but it was not good enough to give them full points in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament. The 2-4 defeat put them out of contention for a top three finish, which was a realistic expectation before the tournament began.
There were quite a few close calls by the Indians, and had they converted them the result could have been different. But one must give due credit to Argentina for the way they controlled the midfield, waited for those counter attacks or loose passes and capitalized on them.
Like in all the matches played thus far, the defence was found wanting. Two of the goals India conceded were because of poor understanding by the defenders. The first instance was the second goal. Three Indian defenders concentrated on tackling one forward and when the ball was slipped across the circle, an unmarked Matais Vila had the easy task of side-stepping goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan and scoring.
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Argentina's other two goals came from penalty-corners. Both were executed with tactical brilliance. Before having a try at the Indian goal, there was a dummy run by an Argentinian player across the goalkeeper to distract his attention, before Lombi completed the formalities.
What surprises one most is the charging out for the corner was not done by one of the team's most experienced players, Dhanraj Pillay. I do agree that it is a good idea to try and groom a younger player for such an important drill, but such tactics are not experimented with at big tournaments. The team should have had Pillay doing the charging out for the corners. In my opinion, he and my former teammate M M Sommaya have been among the best runners while defending penalty-corners.
And what can one say about the forward line? After doing little right for much of the first half, it came alive in the second, but it was too late. Besides, the probing was not threatening enough to create any impression on the Argentina defence.
Baljit Dhillon had perhaps his best game and was in the thick of most of the moves. He scored off a melee to reduce the margin 2-4. In fact, the first goal too was scored in the same fashion. A free-hit outside the 'D' by Ignace Tirkey was deflected into goal by Deepak Thakur. Thereafter, we had at least three half chances, which, had they been converted, could have changed the complexion of the game.
Now that the team is out of contention for the first three places, am sure they will be under no pressure when they take on Pakistan in their concluding league match. India and Pakistan have always had close matches and in the opinion of many Indians, Friday's match is like the final. If the team wins this one, all other losses in the previous matches will be forgotten. On current form the Pakistanis have the edge and will be raring to avenge defeats in recent tournaments. So, one can rest assured of some vintage stuff.
Previous columns:
- Pillay Dhillon need to be rested
- Mervyn Fernandis represented India at the 1980, '84 and '88 Olympics. He also captained India at the junior World Cup in Versailles, France, in 1979.
