The Indian hockey team exposed their Achilles heel when they failed to convert any of the dozen penalty corners in their 2-1 defeat to Argentina.
BOOM (Belgium): Indian team's Achilles heel was brutally exposed when they failed to convert any of the dozen penalty corners in their 2-1 defeat to Argentina in the Champions Challenge men's hockey tournament here.
India's weakness at penalty corner conversion has been a perennial problem that generations of coaches have failed to solve. If the Indian team had put in the hours of practice at penalty corners, both direct and indirect, then it did not reflect in the drill during the match.
"If you cannot convert even one of a dozen penalty corners, then there is nothing much you can do," was coach Joaquim Carvalho's rueful admission.
Thursday's loss, India's second in four matches, effectively dashed their hopes of making it to the final unless New Zealand, who have already qualified, open the door for them by beating Argentina on Saturday when the tournament resumes after a break on Friday.
Then again, in such an eventuality, India would need to overcome Japan to tie with Argentina on nine points in which case, the goal-difference would be taken into account. At the moment, India have scored eight goals and conceded seven as against Argentina's 10-7.
India are scheduled to play the second game on Saturday after the New Zealand-Argentina match. Argentina require only a draw to advance to the final.
The event provides India a chance to get into the top six bracket. Only the winner here gets to play in the 2008 Champions Trophy that is reserved for the top six teams in the World.
India's position here would have been far more comfortable had they utilised the scoring opportunities against Argentina. On the contrary, they wasted 12 penalty corners, one of which was not taken as the umpire changed his ruling.
In the tournament so far, India have converted only three of the 19 penalty corners they received, two by Dilip Tirkey and one by Sandeep Singh.
Of the two, Tirkey has underlined his status as one of the best full-backs in the business, while Sandeep has not been as convincing as an all-round player.
So much so that Sandeep's lengthy absences from the field is not difficult to fathom.
When queried on this, Carvalho said, "It is part of our plan and it is something I cannot disclose at this moment."
Incidentally, both Dilip Tirkey and Sandeep are making a comeback after missing the eight-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia, earlier this year when India finished third.
While Tirkey did not attend the selection trials due to his commitments in the Dutch league, Sandeep was still to recover fully from a freak gunshot wound that he suffered a few days before the World Cup in September last year.
Further, it was learnt that Tirkey and Sandeep were overweight, but each shed a few kilos during the pre-Champions Challenge camp and subsequently passed the fitness tests.
The Indian camp here made a tacit admission that Dilip Tirkey was short on confidence after the disastrous 2006 World Cup under his captaincy.
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