India outplay Pakistan in battle of former champions

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

It was amazing to find the Indians dominate their arch-rivals, Pakistan, so decisively and more importantly translating their supremacy into a resounding 4-1 victory. It’s not often when they have succeeded in recording such an emphatic win over their fiercest opponents.

India’s Spanish coach, Jose Brasa, very rightly downplayed the win because after all it was an opening match not the final of the tournament. But they certainly warmed the hearts of their supporters during their opening World Cup 2010 match at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi on February 28.

"It's just a normal win and three points for us we must keep our feet on the ground. We dominated the first half, but we were not up to mark in second half and still managed to score two lucky goals," he summed up the situation perfectly.

India do need a cool head to carry the form they displayed in the opening game into the remaining matches because of being placed in the group of death. Whether they will be able to sustain the momentum against Australia, Spain, England and South Africa remains to be seen.

The Indians have seldom performed consistently in the hockey field for decades now and I don’t think there’s much to celebrate with an odd win over Pakistan. They have to come up with much improved performance in the upcoming matches to bring about any kind of revival.

Well begun is believed to be half done. So India can draw inspiration from the big win over Pakistan in the first game and they can make it count. Realistically they are not in the run for a place in the semifinals but a couple of more victories can bring them in contention.

Sandeep Singh was their hero in the opening game scoring from two penalty corners. Shivendra Singh had given India the lead in the 25th minute after capitalizing on a penalty corner rebound and Sandeep made it 2-0 just before halftime.

Soon after resumption Prabhjot Singh made the most of a pass from Arjun Halappa and then Sandeep Singh scored with a drag-flick to make it 4-0 in the 56th minute. The Indians kept on attacking and they were not deterred even after Pakistan’s penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas had narrowed the deficit.

Talking of Sohail it was rare to find cursing himself out in the open when he found the crossbar two times. He, however, turned out to be the solitary scorer for Pakistan on a day when they could not launch their trademark offensives.

Pakistan’s coach Shahid Ali Khan conceded that India were the better team on the day. "After falling behind by three goals, it was always going to be difficult to bounce back but this isn't the end of the tournament," he remarked.

Well theoretically Pakistan do stand a chance of forcing their way in the semifinals but the ground realities might be far too harsh to their liking. They have to tackle the powerful trio of Australia, Spain and England besides South Africa.

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Sohail Abbas optimistic about Pakistan’s chances of reclaiming trophy

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan’s drag-flick specialist Sohail Abbas very rightly believed that Pakistan should not be ruled out of the World Cup Hockey Tournament 2010 starting in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on February 28.

Talking to the media corps during his recent visit to the Karachi Press Club, he made the point that the present lot of hockey players was adequately geared and motivated enough to improve the rankings and win laurels for the country.

“Currently we are not ranked among the top teams of the world. But boys do have the capacity and talent to accomplish something special if they play to their potential,” he remarked.

“The manner in which our team performed recently against the Netherlands in Qatar gives us a lot of boost and self-belief. Our fancied opponent had to come from behind to earn a draw after we had gained the early advantage. Remember the Dutch are a formidable team and playing out a draw against them was very encouraging for us,” he reckoned.

Sohail, looking forward to enhancing his world record tally of 306 goals but more importantly he desired playing his part by contributing substantially in the success of the team.

“I am playing my fourth World Cup after making my debut in Utrecht and it\s my ultimate wish to serve the country to the best of my abilities. Ideally I would like to see our team become the world champions,” he wished.

The 33-year-old Sohail didn’t mince word in stating that every league match was crucial for Pakistan having been placed in the Group B with Australia, England, India, Spain and South Africa.

“Mind you all these teams are very dangerous and we cannot afford to relax even for a while against any of them. We begin our campaign with the game against arch-rivals India. A victory in this match will really boost our morale,” he observed.

He credited the team management for having developed new armory and weapons with variations in penalty corner drills that should help the cause of the team immensely.

He opined that hockey has changed in the past few years and whole team has to be involved in defence and attack at the same time.
“We have had problems in defence but we worked very hard in the camps and we are confident to come up with an improved performance in New Delhi. The tournament presents a great opportunity to us to fulfill the dreams of the nation in front of the Indian crowd and put national game back on track,” he remarked.

Sohail and the rest of the squad crossing the border are very much aware of the fact that Pakistan have had excellent record while playing on the Indian soil and they would like to come good again.

1982 in particular was the most memorable year for the Pakistan hockey. They had outplayed India in the Asian Games final to clinch the gold in style at New Delhi while they won the World Cup in Bombay the same year.

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