Old Tale Repeats Itself

India have failed completely to learn their lessons from the Sydney Olympics, where they finished seventh, and therefore the script does not read much different at Athens.

The Indians played Argentina in a win-or-draw situation yesterday to avoid the wooden spoon and finally settled for a2-2 draw to escape the worst situation.

The depleted Indian side, without the services of William Xalco and Deepak Thakur, played under severe pressure due tothe poor show by Harpal Singh, Ignace Tirkey and the entire deep defence.

Even the marking was below par as in the first 10 minutes India conceded two penalty corners. Again, it was a sterlingperformance from goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza, who came to India's rescue by saving the two corners taken by theirrepressible George Lombi.

In the first half, one felt the forward line did not exist at all in the Indian team. Even the ever-agile Baljit Singh Dhillon was looking tired and found wanting many a times during attack.

However, Argentina were also not at their best as their poor run in the previous games had rendered them a disjointedlot. Their poor mental state helped our mid-fielders enjoy ball possession and one must admit that Vikram Pillay andViren Rasquinha played some good hockey throughout the game. They were ably supported by Arjun Halappa who also had a goodday out.

Towards the end of the first half, Vikram stole the ball from the rival defence and played it to Dhanraj Pillay who quicklyreturned the pass to him. Vikram made a reverse pass to the unmarked Gagan Ajit whobeat Argentina's goalkeeper to give India a 1-0 lead at half time.

India held on to the lead upto the 53rd minute during the second half when the Argentine forward line penetrated theIndian defence by resorting to short passes from the middle of the field.

One such move saw Harpal fumbling in checking the ball and committing a foul which resulted in a penalty cornerto Argentina. This time Matias Vila beat the Indian goalkeeper to make it 1-1.

Thereafter, the two teams did not show any hurry or hunger to go all out in search of a goal. But thanks to some spirited display from Viren, Vikram and Halappa at this juncture, the complexion of the game changed as the trio tried to break through the rival defencewith some fast moves.

From a good interception, Halappa outwitted the rival mid-fielders and made a neat pass to Dhanraj who skirted thedefenders and rolled the ball to Gagan Ajit who made no mistake to give India a 2-1 lead in the 61st minute. Everyone thought India would keep the lead but the defence lost control of the game after captain Dilip Tirkey and D'Souza got injured and left the field.

Their absence led to the defenders committing mistakes and in the final minute, they once again conceded a penalty corner.Vila scored again to make it 2-2.

It was the same old story of losing the script in the dying minutes. Fortunately, South Africa were not close toIndia on the points table and the Indians managed to qualify to play for the 5 to 8th positions.

The management should now look only at the task ahead and prepare the team fully for the next two games which are asimportant as semi-finals. The players must get their act together, put their bestfoot forward leaving behind the disappointments of the past. In fact, they should start afresh and strive to finish inthe top six at least which will not only boost the team's confidence but also help it gain entry to the Champions Trophyand all other major tournaments.

If we fail to do that, I am afraid Indian hockey would have to be given a seriousrelook. There should not be any excuse for not being able to finish among the top six. Hopefully, the team would fight asone to achieve this goal and salvage some pride.

PTI