Now,all eyes on Nobbs boys

India will look to put behind Chile 08 as they take on France to get back into Olympic fold

When the Indian mens hockey team takes on France on Sunday night,they will be looking to make it back into the Olympic fold,putting behind the disappointment of Chile 08. The unbeaten India side will begin the contest as favourites,as they have been since the start of the tournament. Indias performance in the five league games has only strengthened their claim to the tag,and the players,and coach Michael Nobbs,will take to the field knowing they had beaten the same team 6-2 in the league stage.

If everything goes well,we should win tomorrow. But France is not a team we should take lightly because they came hard at us in the league stage and anyway,there are no easy teams in hockey, said Nobbs on Saturday. Indeed,the only thing the Indians will have to guard against,will be complacency that may creep in. Against Poland the last league match on Friday,the Indians appeared to be playing at less than full tilt as they struggled to score in the first half. Even though they scored a facile 4-2 win,they would do well not to repeat the same in the final.

In terms of skills and performance,there is not much the team needs to do to improve,except seek more sharpness in finishing attacks. The Indians have been profligate in front of goal,wasting several chances due to wayward shooting. Shivendra Singh,SV Sunil and Gurvinder Singh Chandi upfront have had several chances,courtesy some brilliant crosses from Tushar Khandker and SK Uthappa but if this tournament has to be the beginning of the final stretch of preparations for the London Games,they need to be not just ruthless with their scoring but also make half chances count. The opponents they will be up against at the Games,if India qualify,will be much tougher. What they will also need to do is to be prepared for some tight marking from the French 8211; a tactic Canada used successfully to tie down India for a large part of their game.

Solid defence

The defence has improved with every game Raghunath,Sandeep Singh and Ignace Tirkey have done well to ward off the opposition and not commit many fouls or give away penalty corners. Though Rupinder Pal Singh has not played as much as the others,he remains important for the teams long-term planning and with an improved defence,the team will be all the more confident of going on the attack.

The last two games have seen the midfield wobble and it is time the defenders support Sardar Singh and Danish Mujtaba,while the likes of Sarwanjit Singh and Manpreet Singh,though impressive,take a little more responsibility in setting up chances. Given that the French will be looking to make the Olympics for the first time since 1968 and the way they played their hearts out in the last match to draw against Canada,the Indians should be wary of any eventuality.

There may be many a slip between the cup and the lip but despite the little niggles that the team needs to work on,unless the Indians decide to self destruct,they should be able to confirm their tickets to London on Sunday.