From his unique vantage point, Ric Charlesworth is ideally placed to talk about the Indian men's hockey team. The Australian, who's doing commentary for the host broadcaster at the World Cup, spoke on a number of things on the team following their disappointing exit. Excerpts:
On India's World Cup performances and results
At the Olympics, I was delighted that India won the bronze medal but if you look at the bronze medal game, you know, they had a fair bit of luck. But I think over the last decade, we have seen them get better. You are not surprised they were on the podium, and I think they are very competitive now. India, I thought, the first couple of games here were pretty good against good opponents. But maybe then they start to believe the local publicity rather than go 'Okay, 'Wales are a tough team'. And, you know, they nearly had a stumble against Wales. I think New Zealand are always capable of that upset. And if India are not really in the battle that day, then that result can occur. It can occur to anybody, Australia nearly stumbled yesterday (Tuesday) against Spain. So yeah, what you need is constant vigilance. And I think after the result in Tokyo, which was so good, India celebrated for a while. You know, you have to get out of that mode and say, 'Okay, what do we have to improve and make better because... you have to improve. And I suspect that was, that's part of the long story. You look at the details of the game (against NZ)... India had any number of chances to win it, unable to finish. (It) maybe reflects, you know, anxiety, I think when it comes to the shootout, that was probably the case.
On the anxiety
When you get there, people start thinking about the outcome rather than the process. (Coach) Graham Reid said it any number of times, but it has to be in your DNA. (Yes, it can be introduced in the DNA). Yeah. Just like, you know, many people have commented about the shootout. You had Akashdeep (Singh), Manpreet (Singh), Mandeep (Singh), Lalit (Upadhyay) didn't participate. For all sorts of reasons, I had the same problem in our team, sometimes the senior players don't want to do it. But they have the skill. And it's a skill, you have to learn it in practice.
On the crowd factor and the lack of it in Tokyo and whether that played a role here
It can be easier to play away, than at home. The expectation and the pressure is sometimes greater. We never played except for the Sydney Olympics, that was the only tournament where I coached when we were playing at home. We won in Holland twice, we won in Dublin, playing against Argentina, and we won in India playing against Germany. Sometimes the pressure is greater for the home team than for other teams. So I think that it's a real factor. Something goes wrong, and the players start to focus on the outcome rather than the next thing they have to do on the field. I said before the tournament that your defense had to be skilled, organized and diligent... the first goal that was scored by New Zealand really would have been avoided. That makes a difference. And the last one that New Zealand scored was just dead lucky. The runner did his job, they blocked the corner, the ball went wide... the New Zealand players shot four meters wide away from the net and it happened to go to someone who deflected it in. That's luck. You know, India had another opportunity that they knocked in, and it was lost on referrals. So the story could have easily been quite different.
On a possible lack of bench strength
I'm sure India has that (good bench strength). Again, I don't know what's going on inside the team. But when you're coaching, you have alternatives in every position. Knowing India, they have a good junior team, they have good backup, they have the structures, much more solid than they were 10 years ago when I was here. And I always thought it was a 10 year project. The Hockey India League (HIL) helped a lot. But it hasn't been there for the last five years. So yeah, that's a pity, because I think that really gave local players a boost. And they played next to international players, and they realized that the international players only had two arms and two legs and that they could compete with them.
On the way forward
There are things that you would want to improve in the coaching structure. Perhaps, in the support staff. Like the fitness staff, who were with India for the Olympics. They aren't there anymore? Why is that? They weren't offered appropriate salaries, and they went somewhere else? They are working with other countries now, those sorts of things. Does India have someone who's an expert in human behavior working in their program? I don't know.