Let’s start with the good news. The Indian women’s hockey team kept its Olympic hopes alive with a 5-1 win over Italy. Before the game even started, the equation was simple. The United States defeated New Zealand 1-0 and advanced to the semifinals with three wins in three games. India only needed to avoid defeat against Italy to advance to the last four. India not only avoided defeat but also won quite strongly and finished second in the group.
Once again, India’s best players were Salima Tete and Udita Duhan. Just like in the previous match against New Zealand, Salima contributed significantly to India’s strong start. After winning a penalty corner in the first minute of the match, Udita took advantage of the opportunity to score the opening goal. It was a perfect start for India and head coach Janeke Shopman must have been very happy.
Salima and Udita, who play their 100th match today, are not done making valuable contributions. Salima, who has improved dramatically in the past six months, scored another great goal. Four minutes after Deepika’s penalty stroke gave India a 2-0 lead, Salima found the ball in space inside the circle and fired a powerful shot from the right. The shot came from an angle, and the goalkeeper covered his side, but still couldn’t react to the shot. Udita then converted from a penalty corner to score his second goal of the match.
It’s pertinent to point out that Udita is not the team’s first-choice penalty corner specialist. In fact, had Gurjit Kaur and Deep Grace Ekka been in the team, Udita would have been the fourth option. The fact that she scored three goals from penalty corners in two matches, while first-choice Deepika did not, shows how effective she was.
Her contribution doesn’t end with penalty corners. She has also been India’s best defender in the last three matches. In the second half of the game, Udita was defending Italy’s attack. She got the ball and started her attack by running about 30 yards, making a pass inside the circle and earning a penalty corner. It’s true that Navneet Kaur may have scored the best goal of the match, dribbling past a bunch of defenders from the right wing and then scoring past the goalkeeper, but Udita’s numerous tackles and defense led to the attack. The transition to was clearly the best part of this match.
And now it’s not so good. After scoring the first goal in the first minute of the match, India had to struggle for another 40 minutes before scoring the second goal. Deepika’s penalty stroke after a mistake from Italy’s last line changed the course of the match for India. But before that, India were just as uninspiring when they played against the US. There was no creativity in the midfield, there was no final ball and Italy were managing to frustrate India. When India’s promising move fell apart, the camera even panned to an angry shopman.
Even when there were some good attacking moves, India had difficulty even getting it into the circle. Sonica and Deepika got involved in a beautiful one-two to enter the circle but missed the chance. Salima made a great play to beat his marker and pass the ball to Navneet on the right, but the chance disappeared before the ball entered the circle. Jyoti received a great ball from Lalel Musiami and took a shot in front of the goal, but his shot went wide.
India needs to improve before the semi-finals. Their next opponent is Germany, who have scored 14 goals and conceded just one goal on their way to winning all three group stage games. India needs to work together as a team, but relying only on a few players will not work against a higher-class opponent.