Half-time!
India have had 14 different scorers, and 76 different goals, in the men's hockey competition at these Asian Games. Yet, they are not able to get past a resolute Kumar Subramaniam in the Malaysian goal thus far...
...This could be a match all about seizing the moment. Which team will do that?
These words, posted on ESPN's live blog during the Indian men's hockey semi-final against Malaysia in Jakarta, proved prophetic, as the defending champions spurned a lead twice to go down via shootout against an opponent ranked seven places below their own fifth.
So, what went wrong for the Indian team?
Responsibility starts with the players
"As a team, if you concede in the final few minutes, you don't deserve to be on the podium," says former India coach V Baskaran, who says he hasn't seen top teams such as Australia, Germany or Netherlands concede late after making errors in receiving the ball like India's defender Harmanpreet Singh did. "He may be scoring goals, but you're a complete player only when you make minimum errors."
Australian Michael Nobbs, whose two years as India coach included the 2012 Olympics, believes the Indian team selection was flawed, especially for the shootout. "As soon as I saw [SV] Sunil go in for the last one in the shootout, I went, 'Oh god...we're history,'" he says. "He's a lovely guy -- very fast -- but not the kind of player you would send for a one-on-one shootout under pressure where tighter skills are needed."
Nobbs also believes India need to look beyond older players like Sardar Singh, who was dropped for a number of tournaments over the past one year. "Sardar cracks under pressure at the end of games," says Nobbs. "He can't run fast enough and he gets beaten all the time. Even Rupinder Pal [Singh] is a bit slow, as is Birendra Lakra. It's a step back putting Sardar and some of the older players in the team and that was a really dumb move. You haven't given the younger players enough time to gel with the team and you are taking the senior players again -- they'll choke again."
Fatal errors in discipline
Both Baskaran and Nobbs felt the match swung Malaysia's way after Sardar and Surender Kumar picked up yellow cards -- denoting suspension for a minimum of five minutes -- inside two minutes of each other to start the final quarter.
"When you are reduced to nine players, automatically you put yourselves under tremendous pressure," says Baskaran. "At the death, from the body language of our players who were defending the penalty corners (PCs), it seemed they had already conceded in their head. They didn't give the opponent a sense of being fearless -- that can make a PC pusher feel different. An Australia or Germany, they do that. They try to delay, try to put pressure on the opponent, on the pusher."
Nobbs believes the onus for these mistakes lies with the players alone. "It doesn't matter if you've beaten other teams 10-0 or 20-0," he says. "The really critical games are the ones against Malaysia or Pakistan and you have got to win them. And it's not the coach's fault. It never has been."
Mental aspect
Baskaran praises Malaysia for their strategies through the semi-final -- in open play, they used their pace to run at India along the flanks, neutralising the threat of Sunil completely. In the shootout, they knew Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh would look to tap the ball once near their attacker, hence they took the ball away from him and scored. India, in contrast, appeared dazed and confused.
Sports psychologist and former India cricketer Sujith Somasunder believes some of the errors could be due to the high stakes involved. "The game is the same and so are the players, but in chasing a gold medal and automatic Olympic qualification you start making silly errors," he says. "In close matches towards the end of the tournament, teams that maintain their calm ultimately come out winners."
Somasunder believes the most effective technique is visualisation -- hearing the national anthem, and imagining what it would feel like to be on top of the podium, for instance. However, the key remains to focus on what's happening on the pitch and not think too far ahead.
"When players train, the number of practice sessions and gym sessions are counted," he says. "The same weightage needs to be given to mental conditioning sessions. It's not some sugarcoated pill that you can take before a do-or-die match, which can magically transform you into a confident, fearless player. It's something the hockey boys could invest more time in."