Our Game Plan Was Faulty

India's much-awaited Olympic clash with Australia ended on a sorry note for the country despite some spirited performance by our players.

The Indians conceded a soft goal due to poor stopping and allowed the Aussies to score the winning fourth goal in thedying seconds, thereby making India's chances for qualifying doubtful from PoolB.

The main problem was our upfront did not stretch the Aussie defenders. Most importantly, I think the Indian coachGerhard Rach concentrated more on attacks from the right flank, which predictably resulted in more passes to Gagan AjitSingh but he invariably could not trap the ball.

Had India attacked from the left flank, perhaps more openings could have been created andthe Aussie defenders could have been put under pressure.

In this context, it was seen that often Deepak Thakur and Prabhjot Singh did not have any job to do in the forward lineas the strategy of the team was to attack only from the right flank.

But despite the loopholes, one would have to say that for the first time in this tournament, India played well in the Australian 25-yard and deservingly took the lead through Thakur's excellent deflection from a free hit of Harpal Singh.

The lead put the Australian team under great pressure and their mid-field struggled for most part of the first half.But Australia regrouped commendably with their frontline constantly threatening from the edge of the Indian circle.

One such good move allowed Australian forward Jamie Dwyer to take a shot at the goal. Adrian D'Souza came up with a smart savebut defender William Xalco failed to clear the rebound quickly and the Australians equalised to makeit 1-1.

As the match progressed, the two teams started playing cautiously.

Soon after the breather, the Aussie forwards attacked from the left and poor tackling from Harpal helped Dwyer slamthe ball in like a bullet. This lead raised the confidence of India's rivals as they soon increased the lead to 3-1.

But the Indians came back into the game strongly and within four minutes, turned the match into a lively contest. Off a long hit from Harpal, Gagan Ajit reduced the margin to 2-3.

The equaliser thereafter was a beauty. A good pass between Thakur, Ignace Tirkey and Vikram Pillay led to Arjun Hallappa scoring the third goal for India.

Goalkeeper D'Souza, Dilip Tirkey, Xalco, Viren Rasquinha and Vikram Pillay were outstanding in their approachthroughout the game but the same cannot be said of the other players.

On the contrary, the Aussie attack had variation, operating as they were from both the right and left flanks. It was evident that the four goals that Australia scored were due to the timely transfer of ball from right to left flank.These quick transfers tested the Indian defence which committed soft errors, with at least three goals being conceded from the left angle.

It is not that Indian players are not capable of attacking from the left flank but it is the strategy and game plan which went wrong.

One also fails to understand why our players did not play with utmost caution when they were reduced to 10 players bythe untimely yellow card to Dhanraj Pillay. The players should have regrouped in this situation and played out the last six minutes of the game to salvage a draw and keep their chances of qualifying for the semis righton track.

I remember in the Sydney Games, where I was the coach for India's last match with Poland, Mukesh Kumar was shown ayellow card and we were reduced to 10 players. The team conceded a last minute goal which helped Poland equaliseand India failed to qualify.

This has happened so many times with India and I fail to understand why the players do not realise the importance ofpoints. I think it is the destiny of the players and not the coach.

PTI