It was huge relief to get the first match out of the way, and the 8-0 margin with which we beat Russia in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Santiago on Saturday was a big boost to our confidence as we prepare to take on Austria on Sunday.
More than the satisfaction I derived from the big win, it is more important that we started off strongly. In the past, Indian teams always tended to stumble in the opening game, and, in that context, to come away with three points in the kitty was extremely satisfying.
I must confess that I was a bit anxious prior to the game, for we had not seen much of Russia in recent times. Of course, we used to play the Russians during the 1980s and they were then a tough team with close marking and physical play.
From this perspective, I can say that we went in blind in the sense that we had very little data on our opponents, but once we got into our stride, we were up and running.
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Earlier column: 'We just cannot afford to fail'
Today, it took us about 10 minutes to assess our opposition and after Dilip Tirkey converted a penalty-corner for our first goal, it was fairly smooth going thereafter.
Prabhjot Singh was no doubt the star of the evening with his three-goal performance, but, then, I never had any doubts about his ability as a striker. He has been playing well in the past one year and he scored some quality goals during our recent sojourn in Perth, Australia, where we played practice matches.
I did not put him in the starting eleven today because I wanted Raghunath, who these days plays on the left-wing, to force a few moves and get us penalty-corners. We did get one penalty-corner, but Raghu could not convert. I then replaced him with Prabjot, who went on to score three goals.
Our approach today was to play attacking hockey with the intention of scoring as many goals as possible. To this end, we succeeded and, overall, our performance was quite satisfactory.
The other aspect of the game we have been working on is not to relax even if we were comfortably ahead. In the past, this tendency to let our guard down cost us the match and on occasions a possible medal. Thus, having learnt from our past mistakes, we are now determined to sustain the intensity of our efforts throughout the 70 minutes.
But, then, it is never easy to get rid of old habits overnight and today, against the Russians, we slipped up a bit in the last minutes and conceded two penalty corners. The boys knew that with a 8-0 lead and a minute left on the clock, the victory was sealed. They let the shoulders drop and conceded the penalty-corners.
Our new mantra is Akhri dus minutes mein savadhaan rahenge. In other words, we will keep our calm in the final 10 minutes and avoid making silly mistakes or giving the ball away.
I, otherwise, cannot comment much on our deep defence since it was hardly tested. The Russians barely made a move into our circle. On the other hand, our midfield play, I thought, was fairly tight and we gave nothing away in this vital zone. For me, in modern hockey, the midfielders are heart and soul of the team, and, today, the Indians acquitted themselves well.
Finally, I must offer on behalf of the team our appreciation to the many Indian fans who came to the ground to cheer us; they were led by India's ambassador to Chile Ms Susmita Gongulee Thomas.
Having won 8-0, I could finally admire the spectacular backdrop of the great Andes mountain range that borders the ground.
Our next game is against Austria and the win has certainly boosted our confidence and we hope to maintain and build on this momentum.
