Harmanpreet’s brace gets India past Malaysia barrier, in semifinals

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Gold Coast, April 10

“Aaagey, jaldi-jaldi, peechhey,” India hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne displays his proficiency in Hindi with a grin. “I’ve been learning, you know.” Marijne’s voice is hoarse, for he uses it like a foghorn during India’s games; he constantly reminds the boys to maintain the team formation, shouting “structure, structure” all the while; he turns to Hindi occasionally, for communicating with the players in Hindi gives the Indian camp an advantage. “Only Pakistan’s players can understand Hindi, so it’s an advantage against other teams,” says SV Sunil. “So when he says ‘daayen’ instead of right, only we understand. The opposition can’t figure that out.”

Talking with reporters after a tight win over Malaysia, Marijne restricts himself to English, though he does use ‘right’ several times. Indeed, the Indian team is on the right path, becoming the first team to qualify for the semifinals. 

He uses the word ‘wrong’, too. He’s aware that much is wrong with the team and much work needs to be done if India are to wrest gold from the grip of Australia, the five-time defending champions. “Yes, I have to say that we have a lot of work to do,” he says. “But I’m very happy that we’re improving.”

It was difficult to figure what exactly was India’s level today; Malaysia played a desperate game, for a win today would have guaranteed the winner a place in the semis. It was a scrappy game, and India’s midfield came under immense pressure; it didn’t shine today. India did well to take the lead in the third minute with a fine penalty-corner conversion by Harmanpreet; however, an error by Sunil proved costly as Malaysia scored after stealing the ball from him. India built up pressure later in the fourth quarter, and a series of penalty-corners got India the winner.

A win is a win

Malaysia pushed India hard today, much more than they did in the Azlan Shah tournament. “It was also because of us,” Marijne said. “I think we gave them too much space while defending. That’s an area we really need to improve. I’m happy that we won this match, and we’re the first team in the semis.”

The coach said he was glad that the team was winning matches despite playing well below a good level; he said not too long ago, India used to lose matches when playing at such a level. “Our talent didn’t help us today, but our hard work did. So that’s also good for India,” he said.

The players were over-eager in the third quarter; the coach had to calm them down in the fourth. “After third quarter I told them to be calm because 15 minutes is a long time, longer than you think,” Marijne said. “I told them they had enough time to score a goal. We even could have made it 3-1 with the last PC. In this kind of matches, it’s important to remain calm. Last quarter, the ball possession was better, we didn’t do super things in the end, that’s true, but we did smart things.”

The smartest thing they did was to not lose the ball under pressure from the Malaysians late in the game, the way they did against Pakistan, who scored in the last minute and cost India two points.

“You have to understand that this is sport — even Roger Federer can lose to an unknown player,” the coach continued. “Sometimes they do take one step back. But you have to see the positives — Dilpreet is really dangerous in the circle. He’s scored two times. We’ve won matches we could have lost in the past. Hard lessons, but that will make them grow.”

The coach seeks another improvement in the game against England — that would help India avoid Australia in the semis.