The key takeaway from Craig Fulton’s first interaction with the media after becoming India’s head coach was that his philosophy is ‘defend to win’. He has insisted that he has always tried to instil defensive structure into his players, and it has reaped rewards. He reiterated the same when assessing the 1-3 defeat against Belgium a day earlier: “We normally pride ourselves on defence, but it wasn’t how we like it.”
Precisely for this reason, what unfolded in front of his eyes at the Birsa Munda Stadium would have frustrated him. India’s defence went missing in a barely believable first half where they conceded seven goals before eventually losing 0-8 against Argentina. The Pro League isn’t always treated as the most important event in the calendar by the world’s best teams, but a nightmare performance at the start of a massive year for Indian hockey is a serious cause for concern.
While Argentina were indeed clinical with their finishing – with Tomas Domene smashing four goals in a stellar display – almost every single goal that India conceded stemmed from a soft defensive error. “If we made a mistake, we got punished and if they made a mistake, we didn’t punish them,” Fulton summarised in the mixed zone.
In hindsight, it might not have made much of a difference. India’s defence and ball retention were poor. But it didn’t help the hosts that Harmanpreet Singh missed a Penalty Stroke, not once but twice, at the end of the opening quarter. After a brilliant nutmeg and turn by Aditya Lalage at the edge of the circle, which resulted in a rash foul that led to the stroke, the Indian captain’s first attempt was saved by Tomas Santiago. When Harmanpreet was awarded a retake on review because of Santiago’s early movement, he went again to the goalkeeper’s right and saw his shot blocked.
India would be made to pay for the missed opportunity rather quickly. Argentina went down the other end and took the lead, thanks to a stunning finish from Tomas Ruiz, who hammered a loose ball into the roof of the net with a fierce backhander. Argentina doubled their lead immediately, after a botched Penalty Corner routine was converted into a goal by the awareness of Domene, who made space for a shot and guided one past Suraj Karkera on the turn. From nearly taking the lead, India stared down a 0-2 deficit in a matter of minutes.
“We certainly were in the right place, we were playing well, and the momentum shift changed massively from us trying to get a goal, we conceded two in the same minute and a half. And then we didn’t handle it well after that. That wasn’t good from us,” Fulton reflected later.
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Woes compound
India’s troubles compounded early in the second quarter. A long pass from Maico Casella into the circle was missed by Nilam Sanjeep Xess as Domene lost his marker, turned sharply and simply passed it past Pawan in goal. Argentina’s fourth was a shambolic piece of miscommunication in Indian defence. Sukhjeet Singh made a harmless back pass to Nilam who in turn tried to find Harmanpreet but mishit straight to the opposition, setting up an easy 1-vs-1 situation for Lucio Mendez.
It became 5-0 as Ignacio Ibarra found himself in acres of space down the left, dribbled into the circle and hit a powerful reverse hit on goal from a tight angle, from which Pawan shouldn’t have been beaten, but he let the ball in through the pads. The sixth goal was almost a mirror image of the fourth; this time, the mistake happened on the left flank. Sanjay’s pass to Hardik Singh was underhit and a simple through ball forward put Domene clean through on goal. Pawan rushed out but was beaten far too easily by the Argentine top scorer. And just before half time, India conceded the seventh after giving away a tame Penalty Corner, Domene then converting with the help of a deflection.
There was a hint of control in the second half as India held possession longer, but the best chances were still being created by Argentina, who missed a couple of great chances to net their eighth, but eventually did score it through a counterattack led by Domene after Harmanpreet missed an interception.
Fulton is not a man for overreaction, but he’d know deep down that the scoreline is inexcusable, irrespective of the squad rotation that he alluded to in post-match comments. There are bigger goals for the year, but in the here and now, conceding eight cannot be brushed under the carpet.
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Scorers for Argentina: Tomas Domene (15’, 20’, 26’, 60’), Tomas Ruiz (14’), Lucio Mendez (22’), Ignacio Ibarra (25′), Nicolas della Torre (30’)
