NEW DELHI: Champions Trophy 2014, World Cup 2014, World Cup 2006, Sydney Olympics 2000 and Rio 2016. Indian hockey remembers these major events for the wrong reasons—last-minute heartbreaks after the team, seemingly cruising, conceded late goals.
On Monday, about five seconds from the hooter, India conceded to go down 1-2 to Germany. The result will not have an impact on India’s progress. Four out of six teams from the group will progress into the quarterfinals and India with two wins — against Ireland in the opener and Argentina on Tuesday — will advance.
However, the team showed some nervousness in the fourth quarter against Argentina as well, conceding back-to-back penalty corners. If the result against Germany has dented India’s confidence in crunch situations, they might stutter when they face the top finishers from Group A—Australia, Spain and Belgium.
Beyond the group dynamics, the more disconcerting matter is the trend of the team conceding late during crucial games. Former India coach AK Bansal feels the frequency is now better. “Earlier, conceding late was more like a habit,” he says. “Our players used to lose focus when things got tight.”
“Losing focus” is a pretty broad definition in a sport that is inherently dynamic. The ultra modern hockey involves minute-by-minute changes—coaches employing rolling substitutions to work out the tactics.
{{/usCountry}}“Losing focus” is a pretty broad definition in a sport that is inherently dynamic. The ultra modern hockey involves minute-by-minute changes—coaches employing rolling substitutions to work out the tactics.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian team, after the London 2012 debacle, have learnt how to deal with the variations. The transformation began when the Australian Terry Walsh was in charge, with current coach, Roelant Oltmans (the high performance director then), overseeing things.
Walsh had once spoken about the micro-tactical systems. “Hockey is not just broken into two halves or four quarters,” he had explained. “We, as coaches, look at five minute passages and change plans. Besides reacting to opponents, we devise our own variations too. It is a complex system and the Indian boys are learning and implementing this. We are improving.”
Walsh had said this in 2014, ahead of the World Cup in The Hague. Two years later in Rio, the players demonstrated that “improvement” against Germany. Until the final 10 seconds, that is, when Christopher Rühr scored.
Rühr was not the only German in front of the Indian goal. They were four unmarked Germans in front of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh when the ball was hit in. They were there as part of a well-rehearsed set-play by design, not by chance. And Indians failed to react.
There is no doubt that this hockey team is the best we have had in a while. But if things go south, it could all be attributed to their inability to react to quick tactical shifts at the crunch. Such subtle moves will happen more frequently in the knockouts.