Re: India hold out for a draw

Sir I beg to differ from you on your defence of the media. Over the last 4-5 days I feel the Indian hockey team has done enough to deserve more air space than the Afghanistan Cricket team or Ajay Jadeja's Golfing prowess. It is beyond 11 PM now, 3 hours since the match got over and I dont see even in a scroll reporting the result of todays match(Except DD News).
Sir you say once we start showing results in the World Cups and Olympics the media would start reporting Hockey. Sir dont you think media also needs to play a role in us getting back to our glorious days.
Didn't media back Cricket even when they were not winning so consistently.
I AM ONLY ASKING FOR 3 Minutes of Air Time for my sports in a 30 minutes Sports Show.
IS IT ASKING FOR TOO MUCH?

Re: India hold out for a draw

Now this is real good stuff, way to go India...
I don't remember the last time India managed to hold Netherlands in two matches...
May be Indian team is not facing the best players from Netherlands, may be we might not win this tournament, may be we might bring is few changes and try new things, but the way the lads are playing shows that Our Hockey Team wants to fight & try hard and not wait for something to happen...
They are showing that we as players are willing to fight and perform better, we will give our 100% and want that everyone, from fans to Govt of India to SAI to media would help bring back the good old days... Amen !!!
Good luck lads... Do well against Germany & New Zealand... Defence Little tighter, thats all...

Re: India hold out for a draw

Good that we are on a roll now. But what about our defence ? seems they are caving in to the second string dutch and Germans ! Good luck guys .

Re: India hold out for a draw

India found a very good goalKeeper. I heard about some issue between Indian hockey coach and some other person (i am not remembering the name). Can any one put some light on this matter. The statement was given like " senior players do not assume that their place is secure in the team? Can any body give details?

Re: India hold out for a draw

Sir, While, Aslam Sher Khan should not have made those comments in the middle of the tournament, it is imperative that we bring in some changes to the team.
Below are some of the players who need to do a lot more to deserve a place and their possible replacements.

Forward Line

1) Bharat Chikara - Has not done anything of note so far. Does not have the dribbling skills (like Sunil or Khandekar to play in the wings)nor does he have the goal poaching skill like(Prabjoth,Shivender or Deepak). So I don’t understand what his role is. All I see him is sprint hard in the pitch and whenever he does get the ball he either loses it or puts it out or passes it back.
2) Prabjoth - Fair enough, he has been scoring goals. While he has improved his goal scoring ability he has not given up his old habit of aimlessly running with the ball. He needs to take lesson from Tushar.
3)Rajpal - Same problem as Prabjoth's. He needs to improve his goal scoring ability big time.
Possible replacement - Hari Prasad or someone from the junior squad(Pramod,Mandip,Cheeyana) or replace with a defender as there is total lack of depth in that area.
By the way what happened to the Lanky Orissa Steelers Forward Bruno Lugan? Have we lost him like Rajiv Mishra?

The rest of the forward line is fine. Just that they need to engineer more Penalty Corners.

Mid-field: I think the midfield has great potential but is some how not performing to the best of its potential.

Some of the below par performers in the current tour are Prabodh and Ignace.
While Gurbaj is excellent going forward he needs to work on his defense and marking.
Possible Replacements: Sardara(he needs to give up his habit of holding the ball far too long and rough play),Ravi Pal,Senthil,Vivek, Ranjit Singh(The last two are excellent prospect).
Though I think the best midfielder in the domestic circuit is Sabu Varkey, Sadly he is too old.

Defence : The most shaky department.

Sandeep Singh - Lacks Pace,anticipation,poor tackler, does not put his reach to good effect. Overall a disaster as a defender. I hate his tactics of clearing the ball with scoops. It is not seen anywhere else in Modern day hockey. It is like gifting the ball to the
opponents.
Dilip - Looks good because he has Sandeep as his partner. He has been missing simple traps. But can't deny the confidence he gives to the team. He can be used in indirect penalty corner conversions.
Raghunath - Mediocre defender and Drag Flicker. Poor anticipation. moves slowly and resorts to rough tackles. Unless he has improved drastically.Have not seen him in action
recently.
Replacements - Diwakar Ram (Mediocre Drag Flicker at the international level. He needs to work on directing his flicks to the roof of the net at good speed and direction. Most of the goals he scores are low kept. Not sure if he would get same kind of results in internation hockey. Better defender than Raghu and Sandeep.
Innocent Kulu and Carvalho's favourite Samir Baxla.

Goal Keeping: Best Department.
Baljeet - Great anticipation.
Adrian - Great reflex. I feel he should give up charging during penalty corners. We saw how Taekema toyed with him during the 2006 world cup.
Chetri - My favourite. Has both great anticipation and reflexes, but sadly plays for Canara Bank in the domestic circuit. So less opportunities.

Re: India hold out for a draw

could that be said that indian team is now performing well, or is it that the other three teams are not with there full strength

Re: India hold out for a draw

it has been one of the better performance in recent times. Four matches without a loss
inspite of some error's in defense is good going. The speed and skill required in todays hockey can only be matched if our hockey team gets more exposure.
We need to be playing more international matches and kudos to the Punjab government
for taking this initiative.