Bhubaneswar: Their morale low after two consecutive losses, Indian men’s hockey team will have to plug the holes and produce a miracle performance to tame World Cup silver medallist the Netherlands in their third and final Pool B match of Hero Champions Trophy, here today.
The Indians had a horrible start to the elite eight-nation tournament as after losing 0-1 to Olympics champions Germany in their first pool game, the Sardar Singh-led side squandered their hard-earned lead on two occasions to slump to a 2-4 defeat against Argentina at the Kalinga Stadium last night.
The defeat means India are languishing at the bottom of Pool B and are most likely to face the Pool A winners, most likely England in the quarterfinals as according to the tournament rules all eight teams will progress to the knock-out stages.
Winning and losing is part of any game but what has been most depressing in India’s case is the manner of their defeat.
The solid structure which former coach Terry Walsh had developed in the last one year was conspicuous by absence. It seemed the Indian players have forgotten what Walsh had taught them in the last one year, which had reaped rich dividends for them in the tournaments Down Under. PTI