India

Anupam Ghulati Amstelveen (The Netherlands)

With their confidence dented after an unimpressive start, India take on Germany in the Rabo Trophy eight-nation hockey tournament here tomorrow, fully aware that they would need a herculean effort to thwart the world champions.
India, who lost by a solitary goal to Champions Trophy winners Spain yesterday, will have to exhibit a far more inspired display if they are to match the clinically calibrated Germans, fresh from the Hamburg Masters where they got into the groove against Pakistan, Australia and Holland.

Indian coach Rajinder Singh Jr. Was obviously very disappointed with the irresponsible showing of some of the experienced and senior forwards and an erratic midfield aginst Spain in the Pool A match.

Even though India put up a better display in the second half, it was not good enough to penetrate the sturdy Spanish defence.

Germany have always been a very difficult squad to overcome as they possess perhaps the best combination of speed, skill and stamina backed up by a quality bench strength.

Their attackline has been strengthened with the inclusion of 30-year-old Christian Kurtz, back in the squad after a couple of years. Kurtz and his coach Bernard Peters were members of the victorious German team in the Junior World Cup at Terrassa in 1993.

The Germans will look to try out various combinations in this tournament, with an eye on the European Championship beginning at Leipzig later this month. Their strike power is in the hands of veterans Bjoern Emmerling and Tibor Weissenborn, who between themselves have 450 international caps. Mittias Witthaus, Florian Keller, Phillip Zeller and goalkeeper Christian Schulte will be the others to watch out for.

India will have to play with good ball control and ensure that they do not commit any unforced errors, if they have to make a match of it. They would have to remove all mental blocks of being the beating boys.

But for this, their forwards would have to coordinate essays into goals. Against Spain, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot and Arjun Halappa all came croppers, playing a below par game. Even the midfield committed numerous mistakes, particularly Bimal Lakra in the centre.

It will have to be a fine tuned and orchestrated combined effort hereafter by India if they are to redeem themseves and hold their heads up.

Rate This Article

Select Here  5 Stars  (Best Rating)   4 Stars   3 Stars   2 Stars   1 Star  (Worst Rating)

Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.