Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Repeatedly cracking under pressure in the closing stages does not do credit to a team in any grade of hockey, leave alone an international side.
The Indian defence8217;s habit of conceding late goals has now become an acute embarrassment. India is on its way to play for the bottom four spots once again, after succumbing to pressure and conceding two goals in the last eight minutes that gave South Korea a 2-1 victory in the World Cup preliminary league match.
South Korea almost forced penalty corners at will, testing the nerves of the Indian defenders who appeared at sea whenever the Koreans broke into the scoring zone. The way these Korean strikes weaved patterns in our territory would have rattled any defender, especially when the half-line was unable to put up a challenge.
India could also count itself lucky that a penalty stroke awarded against them was later reversed by the umpires. That could have upset the Koreans8217; rhythm, but they showed themselves to be tough fighters. No one would blame a team if it gives up after seeing so many chances go waste, but the Koreans realised they had the Indian defence under their spell. Their never-say-die attitude paid dividends in the end.
It is not for nothing that the Asian challenge in contemporary world hockey is spearheaded by South Korea, who announced their arrival on the international stage with a bang two decades ago.
Claiming the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics proved why the Koreans are so highly regarded and are considered among the toughest rivals.
Many of the Indian players would have been aware of the grand comeback that South Korea made in the Sydney Olympics final against the Netherlands, when they scored two goals minutes from the end to tie the scores at the end of regulation period.
When you take on such rivals, you simply cannot leave gaps in the defence. India8217;s defence posed no threat for the South Koreans.They are in with a chance of making the semifinals and their desperate thrust in the closing stages was to be expected. India should have bolstered its defence after watching it crumble in the final stages of previous matches.
With South Korea missing so many penalty corners, India could have increased their lead through frequent counter-attacks that opened up chances, but the strikers were not able to capitalise. It was the same old story again, and we don8217;t seem to be finding a solution for it. We are neither scoring goals, nor able to plug the gaps in our defence.
8211;pargat singh
