Bhubaneswar: Their morale low after two consecutive losses, Indian men’s hockey team will have to plug the holes and produce a miraculous performance to tame World Cup silver medallists the Netherlands in their third and final Pool B match of the Hero Champions Trophy here on Tuesday.
The Indians have had a horrible start to the elite eight-nation tournament as, after losing 1-0 to Olympic champions Germany in their first pool game, the Sardar Singh-led side squandered a hard-earned lead on two occasions to slump to a 4-2 defeat against Argentina at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday.
That defeat means India are languishing at the bottom of Pool B and are set to face the Pool A winners, most likely England, in the quarter-finals as, according to the tournament rules, all eight teams progress to the knockout stages.
Winning and losing are part of any game, but what has been most depressing in India’s case is the manner of their defeats.
In the first match, it took a stellar effort from vice-captain and goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh to keep India in the match before the backline finally crumbled under the opposition’s persistent raids, with Florian Fuchs scored a late winner for the Germans.
If not for Sreejesh, the margin of defeat for India could have been higher as the goalkeeper from Kerala made many saves to keep the hosts in the match.
And against Argentina, India’s perennial problem, their fragile backline, came back to hurt them again as their lead didn’t even last a minute on both occasions.
While India’s forwardline created chances against Argentina, the defence was nowhere to be seen and was caught napping by the Argentines’ fast counter-attacks.
The solid structure that former coach Terry Walsh had developed in the last year was conspicuous by its absence. It seemed the Indian players have forgotten what Walsh taught them.
