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India go down to Germany

In what was a dress rehearsal of tomorrow's final, Germany beat India 2-1 in the final league match of the four-nation hockey tournament in Perth today.

The result was inconsequential to the tournament, as India and Germany had already qualified to play in Sunday's final.

Both coaches used the game to try out younger players and give those who had been warming the bench in previous matches a feel of top-level international competition.

The fact that the trial paid off for Germany and failed from the Indian point of view will have little bearing on tomorrow's final, which promises to be a hard fought battle between the two in-form teams of the tournament.

India began without the magic of Dhanraj Pillay and the right wing brilliance of Baljit Shillon.

Soon it was apparent that the gamble of experimenting with the less experienced players like Daljit Chandi and Jagan Senthil was not paying off for India.

There was no cohesion in the midfield, the man-to-man marking was far from the precision shown in the two previous games, and the passing was inaccurate.

Without Pillay creating the counter attacks, the forwards seemed to lack imagination coupled with the complete lack of midfield operations.

India were lucky to finish the first half without the scoreboard showing a deficit against its name, and Pillay's entry five minutes before the half-time seemed to lift their game.

It is remarkable what one player can do to the functioning of an entire team.

Even though the Germans had the better of the exchanges in the first half and in the opening stages of the second, India were unfortunate to go in arrears, 1-0, nine minutes after play resumed.

In a totally unforgivable defensive mistake, Dinesh Nayak dribbled right across his own goalmouth only to find Oliver Danke's stick deflect the ball into the goal, much to the dismay of goalkeeper Jude Menezes, who once again had a scorcher of a game.

The Germans maintained the pressure, forcing two successive penalty-corners, the second resulting in another goal courtesy a Michel Bjorn conversion.

It was odd that though the Indians had lifted their game from the mediocre stuff they had on display in the first 35 minutes, they were now down 2-0.

The Germans were awarded their fourth penalty-corner halfway through the second half but India began to dominate slowly, enjoying more possession thanks to the combination of Pillay and the newly-introduced Dhillon.

The pace of the game went up a notch, as did India's counter attacks. Both teams, now with the best eleven on the field, produced ten minutes of good, entertaining hockey in a preview of things to come tomorrow. India kept improving with every passing minute and with three minutes remaining enforced their first penalty-corner.

If the Germans were happy with their win today then the last minute goal India scored must worry them no end for tomorrow's final.

In a counter attack, Pillay split the German defence through the middle and then gave Sameer Dad the honours of sounding the boards with 32 seconds left on the clock.

The result was purely academic and both coaches are confident that tomorrow will be a different match altoghter.

Indian coach Bhaskaran said he wasn't very disappointed with the result, though he was unhappy with the mid field efforts of Gagan Singh and Deepak Thakur.

He refrained from criticising the younger players, but judging by their performances today, it is clear India is going to have bench strength problem when the Olympics come around in September.

Unless of course the likes of Chandi, Senthil and others are quick learners or replacements are found.

Australia coach Terry Walsh always maintains that you learn more from a loss than a win, and indeed there was a lesson to be learnt by India today. After the game, Bhaskaran said the lesson India learnt was that unless they can tighten their midfield play, performances similar to the ones against Australia and South Africa earlier this week, will be hard to come by.

''We need to get a good grip on our man-to-man marking, especially against a team as competent as Germany,'' he said.

He said though it was frustrating to play the same team on two consecutive days, it is good that some of the young players got the opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the world.

''This could be the last time we play Germany before the Olympics, so in that way it is good we played them today and again in the final tomorrow,'' he said.

German coach Paul Lissek said his team missed too many chances and, like Bhaskaran, he too was happy that the mistakes were made today and not tomorrow.

Lissek said he is not worried about the Indian defense because his team's style of play is different to that of Australian and South African.

''Clearly, the Indians weren't on top of their game today, perhaps because they rested their key players,'' Lissek said.

''Obviously this Indian team has become more technical now than ever before,'' he added.

''In the older days all they did was try and attack, now they defend and wait for counter attacks.''

Both coaches were emphatic in declaring that tomorrow's match will be a different ball game, and many here are looking forward to the clash between the European and Asian champions on what promises to be a glorious sunny day, ideal for a good game of hockey.

UNI