The mood was sombre inside Major Dhyan Chand Stadium after the Indian eves’ demoralising loss to South Africa. But the Indian men, probably, did not pay attention to anything else other than the assigned task of taking on their toughest opponents of the tournament, Canada.
Canada matched India not just in attacks but also in skill and speed. In fact, it was enough to realise by the end of the first half that only these two teams have the capability to book a ticket to London Olympics. India’s narrow victory margin of 3-2 certainly suggests how much both teams had to sweat it out for every move.
For India, once again Sandeep Singh proved to be the match-winner. He converted two short corners at crucial moments. The teams were locked at 2-2 with less than 10 minutes to go for the hooter. At that juncture, umpires consulted and gave the hosts a short corner for Canadian tough play inside their own penalty arena. Sandeep used all his experience and power in a shot that was just too powerful for Canadian goalkeeper Antoni Kindler. 3-2, India.
With a lead in hand, India kept going for more goals and even came close to scoring one with another powerful short corner hit by Sandeep. It missed the target by a whisker. The only area of concern for the hosts looked to be forward Saravanjit Singh, who was completely off-colour during the time he spent inside the ground. Star defender Ignace Tirkey also made an error when he failed to clear a ball from the goal mouth and Mark Pearson took advantage of it and reduced the margin to 1-2.
When drag flicker Scott Tupper equalised just two minutes later with his absolute clean carpet hit, there was a bit of silence in the Indian camp but the mid-field, led by Sardar Singh, took control of the ball and fed at least half a dozen through passes to the forwards.
Indian coach Michael Nobbs did acknowledge that there were lapses. “There is still a scope of improvement in our attack but overall, I am satisfied with my team’s pace and aggression,” said Nobbs.
Sandeep, however, looked unhappy with his own conversion rate. “Yes, I have been scoring in each game. But don’t forget, I have also been missing a lot. That’s something I have to improve upon by the time we play the final on Sunday.”
Eves run out of steam vs SA
Indian women had been gearing up for the Wednesday’s encounter against fancied South Africa. Knowing well that this is one team which they needed to beat to book a ticket to London, they tried every trick in the book. But their effort was not enough as they lost 2-5.
This result means Indian women, ranked No 13 in the world, have little chance to qualify for the London Games. Also, India will have to beat Italy in their next outing on Friday.
South Africa ended the first half with 1-0 lead, Chamberlain scoring in the 32nd minute. The game took a complete turn in the second half after a desperate India equalised through Soundarya Yendala in the 52nd minute. It was then the turn of the Proteas to take advantage of the tired Indian defence as Sulette Damons dodged past a lonely stranded Savita in the penalty area.
Chamberlain then added one field goal to her tally. Damons rubbed salt to the Indian wounds by making it 5-2 before the hooter.
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