It was a genuine surprise to see India reach the semi finals of the Champions Trophy Hockey tournament in Melbourne 2012 after the truly disappointing last place at the 2012 Olympics held in London.
Pakistan did well to reach the semi finals and to play India, their sporting foes, at a sell out hockey stadium on the 9th of December.
The match started on a cautious note from both sides as they sized each other. In the first half India had the upper hand in terms of possession and team play. Young players playing in their first major tournament were evidently nervous as was shown when Rupinderpal, the right half lost easy possession in the first 10 minutes of the match. Danish as usual was dribbling when there was no need to dribble and a simple pass would have been a better option.
The goal came from a beautiful, yet simple short corner that was pushed low and hard through the Pakistani keepers legs by Raghunath who had a brilliant match in defence.
Speed and power is nothing without control. Sunil the Indian forward should remember this, as he was the most selfish player on the pitch!
He lost the ball on the Pakistani 25 yard line, and a great move by the Pakistani center forward and right inner passing amongst them selves with a great shot into the net by Shafquat Rasood.
Sardar singh was again the master center half, controlling and pulling strings of the Indian attack only to be let down by his forwards. He is truly a great model center half whose awareness, passing ability, tackling, positional sense and skills is top class. No wonder he has been selected previously in the World select XI.
A joy to watch!
At one point, he had the ball, controlled it, took it to the left, then took it to the right, then paused causing two Pakistani players to stand stationary. He then calmly passed the ball right between them and they could do nothing but to watch the ball go past them. Brilliant!
In the second half, the Indian coach, Michael Knobbs (Australian) seemed to have asked Sardar Singh to play slightly in a more attacking position of a center half. This back fired as Pakistani forwards started utilizing the gap.The Pakistani team played the better hockey in the second half. They always seemed more dangerous while going forward yet relaxed whereas Indian seemed erratic!
Every time an Indian midfielder (half) was in possession of the ball, instead of looking for space and opening the angles to receive the ball, the Indian forwards blindly ran into the ‘D’ hoping to receive a pass. Do they not realize that in the modern game of hockey with the perfect surfaces, they will hardly get the ball standing behind defenders.
Again, it was the Pakistani right inner Mohammed Rizwan who scored a brilliant field goal after a good team move.
With India now trying to equalize and pushing forward, their opponents playing a much settled game created numerous chances, of which one lead to a short corner that was converted by Mohammed Ateeq.
India scored a consolation goal in the dying seconds that was not good enough.
Despite the loss, I must say that it was a step in the right direction for India having finished forth and qualified for the next Champions trophy to be held in Argentina. As always their best player on the pitch was Sardar singh, mesmerizing. Their goalkeeper who is 34 years of age and playing his first tournament was good, better than the one they had at the Olympics this year. In defence, Raghunath had a fine game to prove that he has cemented his position there in the team.
New players like Gamal singh, Nithin, and Akashdeep Singh are not of international standard and did not show any promise at all. Physical aspect of the Indian team needs improvement.
My frustration goes out to one player who does not deserve to be in the team. The most useless, selfish and ignorant player is SUNIL! He should never be picked up ever to play for India. He missed FOUR chances to score and on the field, never passed to his team players.
This is the difference between the top teams and India; the attitude to play as a team is missing from some of the Indian players (as has been the case always).
Pakistan did well to reach the semi finals and to play India, their sporting foes, at a sell out hockey stadium on the 9th of December.
The match started on a cautious note from both sides as they sized each other. In the first half India had the upper hand in terms of possession and team play. Young players playing in their first major tournament were evidently nervous as was shown when Rupinderpal, the right half lost easy possession in the first 10 minutes of the match. Danish as usual was dribbling when there was no need to dribble and a simple pass would have been a better option.
The goal came from a beautiful, yet simple short corner that was pushed low and hard through the Pakistani keepers legs by Raghunath who had a brilliant match in defence.
Speed and power is nothing without control. Sunil the Indian forward should remember this, as he was the most selfish player on the pitch!
He lost the ball on the Pakistani 25 yard line, and a great move by the Pakistani center forward and right inner passing amongst them selves with a great shot into the net by Shafquat Rasood.
Sardar singh was again the master center half, controlling and pulling strings of the Indian attack only to be let down by his forwards. He is truly a great model center half whose awareness, passing ability, tackling, positional sense and skills is top class. No wonder he has been selected previously in the World select XI.
A joy to watch!
At one point, he had the ball, controlled it, took it to the left, then took it to the right, then paused causing two Pakistani players to stand stationary. He then calmly passed the ball right between them and they could do nothing but to watch the ball go past them. Brilliant!
In the second half, the Indian coach, Michael Knobbs (Australian) seemed to have asked Sardar Singh to play slightly in a more attacking position of a center half. This back fired as Pakistani forwards started utilizing the gap.The Pakistani team played the better hockey in the second half. They always seemed more dangerous while going forward yet relaxed whereas Indian seemed erratic!
Every time an Indian midfielder (half) was in possession of the ball, instead of looking for space and opening the angles to receive the ball, the Indian forwards blindly ran into the ‘D’ hoping to receive a pass. Do they not realize that in the modern game of hockey with the perfect surfaces, they will hardly get the ball standing behind defenders.
Again, it was the Pakistani right inner Mohammed Rizwan who scored a brilliant field goal after a good team move.
With India now trying to equalize and pushing forward, their opponents playing a much settled game created numerous chances, of which one lead to a short corner that was converted by Mohammed Ateeq.
India scored a consolation goal in the dying seconds that was not good enough.
Despite the loss, I must say that it was a step in the right direction for India having finished forth and qualified for the next Champions trophy to be held in Argentina. As always their best player on the pitch was Sardar singh, mesmerizing. Their goalkeeper who is 34 years of age and playing his first tournament was good, better than the one they had at the Olympics this year. In defence, Raghunath had a fine game to prove that he has cemented his position there in the team.
New players like Gamal singh, Nithin, and Akashdeep Singh are not of international standard and did not show any promise at all. Physical aspect of the Indian team needs improvement.
My frustration goes out to one player who does not deserve to be in the team. The most useless, selfish and ignorant player is SUNIL! He should never be picked up ever to play for India. He missed FOUR chances to score and on the field, never passed to his team players.
This is the difference between the top teams and India; the attitude to play as a team is missing from some of the Indian players (as has been the case always).
If only there were more Sardar Singh's playing for India!
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