BHUBANESWAR: For the first 45 minutes, it looked like an action replay of the encounters India and Canada played at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the World League Semi-Finals in 2017. The former had taken the lead in both of those encounters before a lack of structural integrity and positional indiscipline allowed Canada back into the game.
The same pattern threatened to complicate the hosts’ chances of direct progress to the quarterfinals on Saturday. After Harmanpreet Singh had scored from a penalty corner in the 12th minute, the hosts suddenly backed off. They didn’t try to box in their opponents, did not press them high up the pitch and didn’t ask enough probing questions in the final third.
At the pre-match press conference, India coach Harendra Singh had opined that they had done their homework vis-a-vis playing the Red Caribou. What was transpiring on the pitch betrayed that statement. Canada’s bus was firmly packed inside their 12-yard-area — at one point of time, it got so congested there were 16 Canadian legs inside their own ‘D’.
Even if the hosts were leading at this stage, they were playing a dangerous game. A 1-0 lead is nothing and Canada showed why nine minutes into the third quarter. A delightful coast-to-coast move ended with Floris van Son finding the back of the Indian net to quieten what was by far the best, most raucous crowd till date. The next 21 minutes, one sensed, was crucial not only to India’s immediate progress but long-term health. With Belgium beating South Africa 5-1, India needed to win to maintain top spot.
This is where the break between the third and fourth stanza helped. The two-minute breather helped the group refocus with Harendra asking his men to maintain structural discipline. “At the quarter break, he asked us to stick to our structures. He was of the opinion that we weren’t sticking to it and a lot of final balls were going to waste,” Man of the Match Lalit Upadhyay said after the affair.
Kothajit Singh’s re-introduction helped India’s cause immensely to bring about that positional sense and discipline. After missing the entirety of the third quarter because of a fitness issue, an increasingly desperate management threw him on. Less than 60 seconds later, India was in front. He got hold of the ball in the left channel, left a few Canadian players dead before striking the ball goalwards. The keeper saved but Chinglensana Singh from the top of the ‘D’ converted to put the hosts back in front.
An example of how maintaining positional discipline in an attacking sense gives rewards. This also lifted the crowd who were eerily quiet till then. With a clear advantage, they were back to blowing their horns and waving their flags. This helped immensely from an Indian perspective because a quiet crowd makes the Men In Blue overthink their work. Why are they quiet? What aren’t we doing properly?
This line of thinking sounds ridiculous but it was a thought echoed by Canada captain Scott Tupper on Friday. “We are pretty confident that if we can get the crowd to quieten down, they (Indian players) might have to do a whole of thinking.” Once the noise had returned, they had no problems in dealing with the wall of Red in front of them. With Manpreet Singh also returning after an enforced 15-minute break to manage his illness, they found the drive and the passing ball was finally weighted to perfection.
In nine minutes, a disaster had turned to a thrashing as the final score read 5-1. Much of the credit for this performance should go to Harendra who earned his bacon with his team talk between the third and fourth quarters. “The quality of the final balls became better,” Harendra said after the match.
Visiting coach Paul Bundy attributed the glut of goals in the final 15 minutes to a ‘loss of focus’. “We lost focus. Once we were 2-1 down, the guys were trying to do more than it was needed. Both teams were a little nervous. Obviously, India were looking to top the pool. After the third or 4th goal went in, (we turned to damage control). We need to give credit where it’s due. India put the foot on the accelerator and punished us.”
The biggest takeaway as the hosts get set for “the real tournament” — in Harendra’s word — is how they have adapted and changed their skin according to the situation. With a likely meeting against The Netherlands next, they will need to keep this new-found habit going if they want to progress deeper into the competition.