India hope to sign off on a high note

A drawn match with hosts Malaysia has been the only saving grace for the under-strength Indians who have come here to try out new combinations ahead of the Olympic qualifiers in March.

Having watched Spain through the tournament, Harendra said his team is only too well aware of their strengths and weaknesses. The indications are that the Indian defence would keep a particularly sharp eye on Spanish forward Santiago Freixa who has scored seven goals so far. ‘‘It has been a good experience for our younger players. As I have been saying all along, we tend to commit mistakes in the defence leading to penalty corners. This is something we have to constantly work on to rectify,’’ the coach said.

In the five matches so far, the Indians have conceded 28 penalty corners of which 10 have been converted. As against this, India forced 13 penalty corners, three of which were brought to account. In essence, India conceded just five goals from open play and themselves scored six. These statistics support Harendra’s views that the Indians are still to learn to successfully defend penalty corners.Harendra conceded that the inexperience in the deep defence has been the primary reason for the goals against India. Making matters worse, his team will yet again be without the two most experienced players, skipper Dhanraj Pillay and Baljeet Singh Dhillon. Dhillon is out of the reckoning with a fractured nose while Pillay is still nursing an injured knee that might take a while to heal.

The Indians do not expect any favours from the Spaniards who are still to get over their draw with Germany yesterday when they threw away a 4-1 lead and conceded three goals in the last 18 minutes. The afternoon start tomorrow is expected to favour the Indians much more than the Spaniards who, like the Germans, find the hot and humid conditions rather uncomfortable. The on-pitch temperatures have been soaring to 39-degrees-Celsius, something that the Asian players are more accustomed to. In the event, the Indians plan to take the initiative at the start with early goals, like they did against Australia, and this time around, protect the advantage to the final whistle. (PTI)