Schoolboy Errors Did India In

The irony of India's game against Netherlands in the Olympic opener was thatall the three goals scored by the Dutch were not an outcome of great display ofhockey but due to our players' defensive lapses.

The Indian team, playing for the first time under a foreign coach, fieldedAdrian D'Souza as goalkeeper in place of the regular Devesh Chauhan. Truly, thischange was welcome and D'Souza proved to be up to the task.

But the same cannot be said in favour of the young drag flicker Sandeep Singhwho had a nightmare of a match. His costly lapses will not permit him to sleeppeacefully for many nights.

His inaugural appearance at the Olympics cost the Indian team dearly in thefirst two minutes when he gifted a pass to the Netherlands forward MatrenEikelboom who readily devoured the chance to give his team the vital lead.

This error by Sandeep put pressure on the other newcomer Harpal Singh and IgnaceTirkey.

This helped Netherlands tighten the noose further on India as they increased thelead to 3-0 by the last 15 minutes before emerging 3-1 winners and taking thevital three points from this match.

It is easy to criticise our team's performance but the facts and figures have tobe revealed so that the players quickly rectify the errors and go into the restof the four games with a positive frame of mind.

As in the past, the same kind of mistakes are being repeated by the defenders,costing us the medal at the Olympics.

The question is who should accept the blame for the simple basic errors whicheven a schoolboy learns immediately from. It is high time the players,especially the mid-fielders and deep defenders, became sure about their trappingwhich is the basic quality needed in present day hockey.

If you are not sound in this aspect, however good your team is, it will not besuccessful and I would say one should not be called an Olympian if he does notknow the basics of the game.

On the contrary, the Netherlands defenders were very sound in reversetackling and almost all the defenders challenged the Indian forwards wheneverthe situation demanded.

Our wing-halfs, especially Ignace Tirkey and Sandeep Singh, were not positionedproperly and allowed the Dutch forward line to dominate all the moves and createmany openings which put captain Dilip Tirkey under great pressure.

The wing-halfs should have played much deeper in defence and should have stuckto man-to-man marking as was exhibited by their counterparts.

Also, our mid-fielders - Vikram Pillay and Viren Rasquinha - tried hard for abreakthrough. But I fail to understand why frequent substitutions were made inthe mid-field. The coach should have gone in for permanent mid-fielders ratherthan shuffling them frequently. This caused more space especially in thesecond-half which could have been avoided.

The only bright spots for India were the performances of D'Souza, Vikram Pillayand Tirkey.

The Indian team management should quickly address the loopholes and start afreshfor the next four games. This team still has a lot of fire and can bounce backto stake claim for the elusive medal.

PTI