As the clock ticked towards finish on Saturday, the number of deep breaths in the Indian dugout increased and turned into sighs of relief in the end. Hosts South Africa had the visitors on tenterhooks, enjoyed majority of the possession and had more strikes on goal but still couldn’t win. India were cagey at best, but in the end the happier of the two teams to salvage a point on the opening day of Hockey World League (HWL) Semifinals in Johannesburg.
India’s play reminded of coach Sjoerd Marijne’s words from 24 hours ago.
“We are ourselves our biggest opponents. It means if we are not confident about ourselves and not disciplined, then we will lose matches,” he had said talking to The Field.
On Saturday the Indian girls looked more nervous than confident. They sat back in defence and looked happy with a 0-0 draw. But had it not been for some crafty goalkeeping from Savita Punia, the result would have been different.
At one moment during the final quarter, South Africa’s possession in India’s half had reached an alarming 68%, resulting in repeated raids on the Indian posts. The difference in circle penetrations and shots on goal – 34 vs 15 and 8 vs 3 respectively – leaves no doubt who bossed the game.
The boisterous weekend home crowd leaped up in joy when Stephanie Baxter sounded the board in the third quarter. But the Indian defence had spotted a South African foot and went for the video referral that led to the strike being disallowed.
Where India faltered was with their decision to defend in numbers. Besides allowing South Africa to dictate terms and put the Indian backline under relentless pressure, it led to several situations where India didn’t have players to launch a counter as there were no blue shirts lurking in the South African half.
The only time India looked aggressive was in the first quarter where they attacked in numbers. It appeared India’s tactics were to score early and then sit back. But once it didn’t happen in the opening 15 minutes, the team was more intent on defending than trying to penetrate either through the flanks or the middle.
The Indian forwards kept hanging behind the centre line as the South African defenders easily fed the midfield that found room to move up together and assist the forwards, resulting in repeated forays into the Indian circle.
India need to finish among top five to secure a spot in next year’s World Cup, but for that to happen, coach Marijne will perhaps have to rethink his strategy with tougher matches ahead. But he refused to talk about the “end target” at the start of the tournament.
“We know what we want to achieve to qualify for the World Cup, but we are not busy with the end target,” Marijne said.
And he ended with the phrase that should perhaps be written on a placard and hung inside the Indian locker room.
“It’s not about other teams, it’s about ourselves.”