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Friday, Sep 15, 2006
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Motivating the players will be a big problem now

Pargat Singh

Going without a single victory in the group matches of the hockey World Cup, the Indian team will be quite disjointed when they go into the play-off games for minor places. This is not the first time we are in such a situation.

India has played for the bottom four places in the World Cups three times, the lowest position being the last among the 12 in London in 1986. Four years ago, when India finished 10th, 16 teams were in the fray.

I know from personal experience how difficult the Indian players find these minor-position play-offs. Motivation for such matches is gone once a team has failed to put up a good show in the preliminary league, more so when your defence had been toyed with.

But these play-offs for minor positions are games that teams must play. Such situations test the ability of the team officials to motivate the boys to go out and give their best.

A task on hand

Playing for the ninth to 12th spots, India still has a task at hand. It must try not to finish at the bottom, which in 1986 turned out to be the biggest letdown for Indian hockey.

Taeke Taekema is the highest paid hockey player in the World, and now the Indians know why. The composure he displayed in scoring five goals against India during the Netherlands' runaway 6-1 victory showed why this penalty corner specialist's form is so crucial for his team.

Taekema's feat of four goals in a row came before the Indian defenders could even touch his drag-flicks, the first one coming from a penalty stroke. The Netherlands used its second penalty corner shooter Roderick Weusthof only after building a massive lead that ensured it stayed in the contest for a semifinal berth if the calculation went down to goal difference.

Weusthof made one entry on Netherlands' scorebook before Taekema returned to reproduce his magic and seal the victory that ought to be a huge disappointment for India.

Taekema's presence ensured that the Dutch faced no problems against a fragile Indian defence, whose spirit had already been shattered by frequent setbacks during the current World Cup.

The way Taekema sent his drag-flicks into the roof of the goal gave Indian goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza no chance, even though India was on level terms until the 15th minute.

Defence swept off

The Indian defence was virtually swept off its feet by the destructive Dutch raids, allowing them to create penalty corners almost at will.

When the rival is forcing repeated penalty corners, it is almost impossible for any defence to stay composed. The Indians obviously could not have prepared for such an onslaught, but this scoreline is a big blow to India's reputation.

It was not just the number of goals that India conceded, but the fact that the Dutch goalkeeper Guss Vogels did not have to work up a sweat that should have worried the Indian team management. Even as India was conceding frequent goals, there were hardly any goal-bearing moves at the other end. Sadly, the Indian forwards have not done much in this World Cup.

No nerve

The Indians obviously were aware of what awaited them in their last pool encounter, but it seems they did not have the nerve for this encounter despite being on level terms until the 15th minute when Dilip Tirkey's penalty corner conversion drew parity within two minutes of Taekema's first strike through a penalty stroke.

Then Taekema produced his string of marvellous penalty corner strikes.

The Netherlands might have lost its Olympic and World Cup crowns during the past four years, but it has the rightful claim to being the most successful hockey team of the past decade.

The Netherlands' two successive Olympic titles — at Atlanta in 1996 and at Sydney in 2000 — was linked with the 1998 World Cup title in Utrecht, making it the team to beat in world hockey. — PTI

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