India seek Olympian peak

Bhubaneswar – India are on familiar ground. For the third time in four years, they find themselves in the semifinals of a major tournament at home.Common to all the three tournaments — 2014 Champions Trophy, HWL Final in Chhattisgarh in 2015, and the ongoing Hockey World League Final here — is a format that has been criticised by many since it was first tried five years ago.
With all eight competing teams assured berths in the quarterfinals, the pool matches become largely irrelevant, except for deciding the last-8 lineup. The fact that in a knockout match anything can happen, there have been many surprises over the years. India’s great record in these tournaments — not in terms of number of matches won but number of semifinals reached — is a proof of this unpredictability.
Knockout
On Wednesday, India again proved that it is not about being consistent over the first three matches, but about waking up on the right side of the bed on the day of the quarterfinal clash. India, who had one point from three matches in Pool B, ousted Pool A toppers Belgium.However, to say that the win was a fluke would be unfair to the Indian team. To beat a team of Belgium’s level means India have the capacity to do so. Over the last six years, India have improved by a big margin — they have started to play structured hockey.
What the Indian team has struggled with is finding consistency. In Bhubaneswar, India started with a good performance against Australia, pushing the defending champions before settling for a 1-1 draw. But their level dropped considerably against England and Germany, before they played their best game of the tournament against Belgium.
No alarm
But coach Sjoerd Marijne didn’t sound alarmed by the fluctuation in India’s levels over the four matches. “The difference in the Belgium match was that we made our chances,” said Marijne. “Against Australia, England and Germany, we had the same number of chances as our opponents.”
The Dutchman added that “if you don’t score, things look much worse” than what they are. He felt that in the first three matches, India didn’t stay focused throughout the match, while against Belgium, they were disciplined throughout.
“We were structured, better in one-on-one defending and calm when we had the ball. Even though Belgium had more possession, we held the ball well,” Marijne said a day before India’s semifinal clash against Argentina.
Asked about his views about playing the Olympics champions tomorrow, Marijne said he “wanted to focus on ourselves. We did a few things well and have to improve at others”.
Despite the suspense over which Indian team will turn up against Argentina, Marijne sounded confident. “They put up (set) a standard (with performance against Belgium). Importantly, the players know how they did it. I am confident we can do it again,” said Marijne.
Role of seniors
After the win against Belgium, captain Manpreet Singh said the team was focused on the semifinals. “Last time, we won the quarterfinal but lost the semifinal. This time, we are determined to win the semifinal,” Manpreet said last night after the post-match press conference.