Junior World Cup: Transition from ‘good’ to ‘smart’ will decide Indian hockey’s bench strength | Hockey News – Times of India

BHUBANESWAR: A day before the semifinal against India here, Germany coach Valentin Altenburg had no reservations in revealing how they would counter India’s penalty corner (PC) prowess. “We will tackle them outside the circle…the best defence against PCs is to not concede them,” he had said. His defenders executed that to perfection on Friday. But the unfortunate part of the 2-4 defeat for India was that the home team’s forward-line didn’t look prepared for that ploy and was easily outsmarted.
INDIA NOT PREPARED TO TACKLE GERMAN STRATEGY
The game was almost put to bed in 30 minutes, with a 4-1 lead for Germany who cramped India’s movement with effective blocking and zonal marking. Not to forget the massive physical advantage they had with their superior height and body strength. Their reach and wingspan was critical as far as the tactic of stopping the Indian strikers outside the circle was concerned and thus limited their PC conceded count to just one.
It is frustrating from an Indian point of view when you consider that the same mistake was on display in the quarterfinal against Belgium as well.

With four quality drag-flickers at their disposal, the Indian front-line went for shots at goal instead of finding an opponent’s foot, which gives them a better chance of scoring. The only goal of that quarterfinal vs Belgium came off a penalty corner and India won 1-0. In three pool-stage games before that, 12 of India’s goals came from penalty corners.
UNEARTHING NEW TALENT
That, however, doesn’t take anything away from the fact that India have unearthed young talent. But the quality of this bench-strength will be determined by which of these performers transform themselves into ‘smart’ players.
“For a lot of these players, this game (semifinal defeat against Germany) will be a turning point,” said India coach Graham Reid. “They will get a lot out of it and hopefully the ones that learn the quickest will be the ones that take full advantage of what happened tonight.”

The hosts looked to have regrouped in the last two quarters of the semifinal, when Germany couldn’t add to their tally, while India scored their second goal through Boby Singh Dhami late in the second quarter. The first one was scored by Uttam Singh.
But the PC count didn’t grow from one; and the in-form drag-flickers Sanjay, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Sharda Nand Tiwari and Abhishek Lakra remained under-utilized.
“Smart players decide at that time and make better decisions,” said Reid when quizzed about the low PC count. “Maybe our decision-making wasn’t as good as what it should have been….At the end of the day, that’s what gives you outcomes — the ability to make decisions inside the circle: should I find a foot or do I have a good shot (at goal)?” said Reid.

THE PHYSICAL BUILD FACTOR
The Germans were happy to continue doing what they started with, to end up as winners for a shot at a record seventh title in the final against Argentina on Sunday. The South Americans defeated France 3-1 (0-0) via shootout in the first semifinal on Friday.
Reid admitted that the difference in the physical build of players from the two teams also had an effect.
“You have to play with those height differences all the time, and one of the things that we talk about with the strikers is getting out of their reach,” said Reid, who is also the coach of India’s senior men’s team.

“Once you receive the ball, you get away from the zone that they are controlling. But obviously the closer you are to the circle the more difficult it is to do…That’s what you get at this level. That’s why weights, strength and conditioning are so important. Whether we like it or not, that’s the game,” the Australian added.
WINNING TITLE THE BIG AIM FOR ALL TEAMS
It’s often said that the Junior World Cup is not about winning the title but to find new talent. But ask the players, and they would want to win the title first.
The French and Argentine boys almost came to blows over something that was said after the shootout in the first semifinal.

That tells you how much winning means to these players who are vying to be the senior team heroes of tomorrow.
INDIA TO PLAY FRANCE FOR POSSIBLE THIRD PLACE FINISH
For India, what’s left now is the third-place playoff against France for a possible podium finish.
“We have to come out on Sunday and avenge that first game we played against France,” said Reid, pointing at the 4-5 defeat the French team inflicted on the hosts in their tournament opener.