'First goal killed our morale'-"We began well but got more and more individualistic." -14/10/10

'First goal killed our morale'

(NEVER MIND AS TEAM IS IN 2ND POSITION FROM PREVIOUS 9TH IN CWG IN HOCKEY. GOOD WISHES FOR NEXT TIME AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR SILVER MEDAL...VIBHA)


Shashank Shekhar, TNN, Oct 15, 2010, 02.00am IST


NEW DELHI: It's not often that a team loses the final of a major event by eight goals. Indian hockey fell to a nadir on Thursday, suffering their biggest walloping ever. The mood in the camp though was not as gloomy or pensive as one would have thought.

The players actually took a 'lap of honour' after the final and even received a hearty applause from the meagre crowd which was still braving the heat at the National Stadium.

Coach Jose Brasa and captain Rajpal Singh stressed that the loss won't have any lasting psychological impact on the players. "These things happen in hockey. We beat Korea 7-2 in the Asia Cup final a few years back. Today was their (Australia's) day," Rajpal said, adding that the team would now focus on the Asian Games, which begins in Guangzhou next month.

According to Brasa, India lost the plot after Australia's first goal. "We were the better team in the first 15 minutes, but we gave away a stupid goal which killed the morale and energy of my players," was his rather simplistic analysis.

While saying that his team didn't deserve such a huge loss, Brasa admitted that Australia were "2-3 steps ahead of other teams". "They are the No.1 side, so I'm happy with the silver. But we have to find out what happened on the pitch and look into the problems."

Saying that Indian players were fitter than they were at the World Cup in February-March, Brasa claimed that the heat - the tie was played at noon - made things difficult for his players. This contention was somewhat seconded by Australian coach Ric Charlesworth, who said: "India didn't play any day games before the final, so they were not prepared for the tough conditions."

Charlesworth, one of hockey's master coaches, admitted that the 8-0 scoreline surprised him as well. "It's an aberration. For the first 20 minutes, it was a fierce contest. After that we took our chances," was his modest observation.

Senior Indian player Arjun Halappa found fault within the team. "It was our mistake so what can we say?" he managed, visibly embarrassed. "We began well but got more and more individualistic."

Tushar Khandkar, another senior hand, tried to look at the silver lining. "Silver to mila (we've the silver medal at least)." By way of explanation, his take was: "We couldn't execute our gameplan."


Read more: 'First goal killed our morale' - The Times of India