International tournament news

WC 2010 New Delhi another sad day for Asian Hockey

2010-03-08

India and Pakistan lost their third match each in the World Cup. It is a telling reflection of the state of affairs, says Pargat Singh.
Even if India losing to England was understandable, Pakistan's defeat against South Africa was a real shocker. If not for the two last-gasp goals, Pakistan were actually humiliated by a South African team that is playing the world championship purely for gathering experience.

I have said enough about India in my previous columns. India may have lost a close game against England, but the weaknesses surfaced again. When England made it 3-0 soon after halftime, India were actually destined for a huge defeat till they struck a purple patch midway through the second half.
 

Pakistan's performance in this World Cup has been really distressing. One thing is clear: the Asian concept of hockey of individual brilliance is history. Hockey is now a team game where 16 players have to share a gruelling 70-minute workload. Pakistan still depend on a Rehan Butt or a Wasim Ahmed or a Sohail Abbas. This doesn't help any more.
 

Butt, who I think is enormously gifted, could barely beat a South African defender on a one-to-one duel on Saturday. Modern defence lines will never give you space. This means we have to change our thinking and hence our strategies. It is pointless living on our past glory.
 

The concept of a team game has been best exemplified by England. Before the India match, England scored 14 goals and eight different players were on the score sheet. That means we need to develop a side where anyone is capable of scoring a goal. Alas, India and Pakistan do not have this competence.
 

It all boils down to the depth of your domestic hockey and how you run your system. The European sides are a great reflection of a well-planned structure. At any stage, they will have a pool of at least 50 top players. Compared to that, India's World Cup squad has at least two ‘passengers' and the coach is probably helpless!
 

Looking ahead, Pakistan have the potential to turnaround quickly. Qasim Zia and Asif Bajwa are both ex-players and as president and secretary, they should be able to the job better than power-hungry non-playing officials dictating the show in India. This World Cup should be a lesson for all of us.
 

I agree with Jose Brasa that seven months are not enough to prepare a World Cup team. But I have a few questions for him. England's first goal against India was an action replay of Spain's second goal against us. Same flaw in the defence, same area from where the goal was scored and the same set of defenders. With so much of technology available, has Brasa pin-pointed and discussed the errors?
 

Now question No. 2. Dhananjay Mahadik, supposedly the pillar in the back-three, looked exhausted in spite of Brasa playing him in short spells. Is he fit? At no stage during the England match, our defenders were in line of the ball, forget man-to-man marking. Thankfully, Adrian D'Souza had a better day under the bar.
 

And question No. 3 and the most pertinent one. Do we have a leader in the team? When the captain is a striker and given the speed in which a hockey match is played, Rajpal Singh can never be in command of a game. And the irony is there is no one in the rear to shout instructions to the team upfront.
 

I was with this Indian team at the Azlan Shah tournament last year. Ajay Bansal was the coach. I was astonished to see that no one speaks with each other during a game. There is serious communication gap and the team was badly missing a commander in the defence line who can play the role of a wicketkeeper in cricket.
 

Well, after the Pakistan match, Saturday was India's second best day in the tournament. Shivender Singh's return added some spark in the frontline. He proved what it is to have a fit player and an unfit player (Deepak Thakur) in the squad. Brasa cannot make compromises when he the boss. He has to be able administrator first, then a tactician.
 

Both Indian strikes against England were field goals. Both were the result of three-man moves where the sequence originated from the flanks and the ball was released (passed) quickly. So when skill is mixed with intelligence, the result is there to see.
Yes, India could have drawn the match against England, or probably even win it if they didn't lose two players to yellow cards in the last three-four minutes. But when Indian hockey is in a state of "MAY BE", why blame the players?

Source ESPN

(Two-time Olympic captain Pargat Singh is covering the World Cup exclusively for www.espnstar.com)