Boom (Belgium): The rains did come as a dampener. But the cloak of disappointment that wrapped itself around the Indian team after the 0-2 loss to New Zealand would take some peeling away.
The players walked away in small groups desperate to get away to the hotel while Coach Joaquim Carvalho could have been given the benefit of the doubt if he had failed to attend the customary press conference.
But he did well to hide his disappointment. Sugar-wrapping his criticism of the Indian team, he simply, said," You can’t blame the conditions. The forwards didn’t click, the midfield gave away too many balls and we should have scored from the two penalty corners we earned."
In a way, it was a brief but severe indictment of the Indian team.
"Apart from that, we gave too much space to them to receive the ball. And the defence committed crucial errors."
Except for a five-minute respite in the break, the rains never stopped making the turf heavy, virtually making the Indian forwards ineffective in playing the reverse ball.
The New Zealanders exploited it better as their bigger forwards made up the lack of speed with power in their legs as they hunted down the stray balls ferociously.
"Our forwards just lacked the flow," explained Carvalho. "Normally, we play with the rhythm and knowing that we tried three systems of play but they couldn’t raise the level."
India’s trump card Sandeep Singh could have wrenched the match away from New Zealand if he had been on target with his first two penalty corners, one in each half.
But the accuracy was missing.
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"That was crucial," Carvalho admitted.
"If we had converted even one of them, New Zealand would have come at us and we could have split open the gaps on the counter-attack."
Listening to Carvalho was like hearing a coach whose team had been pipped to the post. Honestly, the ‘if’ factor also hung heavy.
In such a match, where both the teams try and make a chance count, it was the penalty corner that would have been the decider.
And after Sandeep missed his second, one felt that New Zealand would ensure that didn’t fail.
The Kiwis earned three consecutively but Hayden Shaw failed.
Just when the chances of a goalless draw were becoming a talking point, New Zealand earned their fourth penalty corner.
Sunil Yadav swiped at the ball just around the centre-line. Carvalho feels there was no error in the defensive play and the South African umpire was pointing to a free hit when the Korean umpire Kim Hong pointed for a penalty corner.
Carvalho refused to speak on the umpiring.
"The tournament is not over," said Carvalho. "We play England on Sunday and would put up a better show. I am still confident of playing the final."
New Zealand’s second goal was an opportunity that every good team would use.
Knowing that the Indians would move up in the midfield to look for the equalizer, New Zealand used the counter-attack and in a brilliant one-to-one play, David Kosoof ensured that there would be no last minute dramatic equaliser from the Indians.
The tournament is not over but India would have to ensure that they are here for the final by beating England on Sunday. Against England, India’s mental strength would be on test.
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