Sport
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Hockey
Jacobs is South Africa's hero
By S. Thyagarajan
South Africa 1 Belgium 0
KUALA LUMPUR, DEC. 11. Periods of monotony were pronounced but that did not preclude South Africa from collecting full points against Belgium by the narrowest of margins in the Champions Challenge hockey Cup at Bukit Jalil here on Tuesday. The match-winner was scored by Bruce Jacobs in the second half.
South Africa now has seven points with a match against host Malaysia on Wednesday, while it was the fourth successive defeat for Belgium in the championship.
Spirit is no accessory to skills and the Belgians should have realised this now. They were determined to frustrate the South Africans and succeeded by keeping the score-board blank in the first half. And what more, they had more chances at the goal but poor finishing nullied all their endeavour.
More than once, the gangling Maxime Luycx went inside the circle but all he could accomplish were two feeble shots which made no impression on the rival goal-keeper, Chris Hibbert. Two penalty corner shots by Joeri Beunen did not alter the sequence.
The South Africans warmed only in the later stages of the first half. Prompted well from the mid-field by Kevin Chree and Justin King, the frontline, led by Bruce Jacobs, worked some interesting patterns. Jacobs could have put his team ahead early in the second half, after meeting an adroit pass from Justin King, but his wristy push missed the mark by inches.
But midway through, Jacobs hit the target making capital off a pass from Key Brenton. Once in the lead, the South Africans clearly escalated pressure forcing five penalty corners giving the Belgian defence a tough time. Two Belgians - Thomas van Den Balck and Fabian Berger had the mortification of having an yellow card against them in the second half at about the time when South Africa struck that vital goal.
Instructable Indian attack
It is incomprehensible why India is the best team in the world until its players enter the striking circle. If one had thought it was a malaise, till Cedric D'Souza came on to the scene with his academic inputs to elevate the quality and content of mid-field play, tactical inter-passing and variations in penalty corners, it is proving to be incorrect. The shotcomings within the striking circle persist, and no one in the right sense will blame the coach for this flaw.
Unless the gap between creating a chance and utilising it at the all important end is narrowed, if not wholly eliminated (giving a percentage to human errors), there is no remedy to India succmbing to pressure in the final minutes.
Both against South Africa and Malaysia, India gained the early lead, dominated the field, created openings that were as aesthetic as they were adept but fumbled repeatedly in the striking circle. Even if as many as 20 per cent of the openings had ended in goals, India would be on top of the table with as many as 15 goals unlike the four it has for and four against.
Even at the selection point it was clear that the deep defence was vulnerable. Kanwalpreet Singh's and Sabu Varkey's fever and the virus attack on Ignace Tirkey have compounded that problem. Barla and Jugraj have managed to hold on gamely as has goal-keeper Jude Menezes and if only the frontline been a bit more accurate then the pressure on the defence would have subsided considerably. Failure to cap the chances inside the circle has placed India in an embarrassing situation by leaving it with only a slim chance of making it to the final. An exceptional performance against Japan on Wednesday and Argentina the day after is mandatory to realise that goal and save the image acquired after the Junior World Cup triumph at Hobart.
The power to come out of this predicament lies in the proficiency of the seasoned Pillay and Baljit Dhillon and among the foursome of Prabhjot Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, Deepak Thakur and Jugraj Singh. If there is apprehension that the Hobart triumph may be construed as a fluke or an aberration, it looks genuine at this point.
lWednesday's matches: India v Japan (3-35 p.m.); Malaysia v Argentina (5-35 p.m.)
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