Tough for India to make semis

Man-to-man marking and goal keeping are the two weak areas for our team. In the Champions Trophy, we conceded four goals in the last seven minutes against Holland to lose the match 3-4 due to poor marking techniques. The team should rectify these mistakes with better defence. Goalkeeping should also be improved, because conceding a goal can demoralise players.

The team is a good blend of youth and experience. Though the youngsters have little experience, there are no better players available. The experienced hands like Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon could be used in crucial stages. The rolling substitution system will help such players do a better job.

In our times, anything less than a gold was not appreciated in hockey. The 8217;68 team was criticised enough for winning just a bronze at the Mexico Olympics. Then one of the two joint-captains, Prithipal Singh, said 8216;8216;We won a bronze in Olympics, but in future India won8217;t bring a medal from Olympic hockey.8217;8217; His comments were in our mind when we left for Munich in 1972. We retained the bronze that time. But it wasn8217;t appreciated much by the country.

The only defeat we encountered in Munich was against Pakistan. Germany emerged winners at the Games and Pakistan finished runners-up. We thrashed Britain 5-0 in our second match and defeated Holland in the playoff by a 2-1 margin to win a bronze. I had stopped four or five penalty corners taken by Ties Kruize, the penalty corner expert of Holland in the playoff match. That proved decisive in the end.

It was also memorable due to Pakistan8217;s protest against the refereeing in the final. They refused to receive the silver first and when they finally accepted the medal, some of the players put it on the shoes. The entire Pakistan team was suspended for that.

We were a good team with lots of team spirit. Captain Harmik Singh, penalty corner expert Mukhbain Singh, centre-half Vece Paes and left-out Govinda performed well in the Olympics. Aslam Sher Khan was one of the prominent players of our team. V J Philips was the youngest in the team, but he had not played in Munich.

Later I was forced off the grounds due to a knee injury. But I know almost all the players of the current Indian team, as I was their trainer at the junior levels.

Hockey is only a matter of 35 and 35 minutes. It all depends on how they capitalise on the 10 to 12 chances they get and how they defend the same number of attacks the rivals make. They have to play their best to earn the best for the nation.

Cornelius was goalkeeper of the Indian team in the Munich Olympics