By Anand Philar, IANS,
That sinking feeling is all too familiar and it speaks for the depths Indian hockey has descended to over the past two decades. Now that India is all but out of contention for the semi-final at the ongoing Hockey World Cup, perhaps the hosts would be better off introspecting.
Mathematically, India’s chances hinge on the results of matches involving the top three teams in the pool. At the same time, India would have to win their remaining two outings, against England (Saturday) and South Africa (Monday) to remain in contention.
One has witnessed far too many downs than ups involving the Indian team since they won their last big prize, the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics, to harbour any realistic hopes of the boys making the last four. It appears likely that two of the three – Australia, Spain and England – would eventually qualify for the medal rounds from this pool.
For Asian hockey, it has been another body blow with Pakistan all set to join India on the sidelines. While there is not much separating the two neighbours in terms of level of play and ability, it is obvious that their style of play has little relevance to modern hockey that is based on pace, power and tactics rather than just individual flair.
There was a lot of similarity in Wednesday’s matches involving the two teams who went down by the same scoreline of 2-5. Coincidence it might have been, but the margin also reflected the increasing gap between the sub-continental teams and their European counterparts. Indeed, the one-time Kings of Hockey have now become the subjects.
For India, the warning flags are up and fluttering. There were definite signs of the players falling into a rut in the game with Spain, against whom patience and a slower pace would have fetched India better rewards. Loose marking in the deep defence, poor mobility in the midfield and unforgiveable errors at the finish were much in evidence. In the event, the odd moment of spark and sparkle that the Indians displayed did not impact the flow of the game.
With two defeats in three matches, coach Jose Brasa must be a disillusioned man. It is one thing to have pretty theories but quite another to have players capable of understanding and executing these on the pitch.
Coach Cedric D’Souza had similar problems during his stint in the 1990s. Like Balkishen Singh before him, D’Souza introduced a four-man midfield backed by three defenders, including a sweeper-back, leaving three in the attack that would be joined by the overlapping “linkmen”. It worked in the 1994 World Cup, but two years later at the Atlanta Olympics, it fell apart as some of the key players found the plans beyond their comprehension and even ridiculed them!
In the 1970s, double Olympian (1956, 1960) R.S. Bhola, among the first of the theoreticians in Indian hockey, wanted the players to adopt modern techniques and strategies. But he was pooh-poohed as a “black board expert” and his thoughts were summarily dismissed, especially after the disastrous 1976 Games campaign when he was the manager.
Brasa must have realised the futility of his efforts to educate players on the nuances of modern hockey. Their habits are set and the style of play is far too deeply embedded to even adopt a fundamental skill like ball rotation, much less thinking on their feet when plans go wrong. Perhaps, he or anyone else would be better off coaching sub-juniors on a long-term basis as young minds can be easily moulded.
At the moment, there is no option but to hope the team does well in the coming games if only to make the fans believe that all is not lost yet for Indian hockey.
(Anand Philar can be contacted at [email protected])