Kakamigahara (Japan), Oct 1 (PTI) India captain Harmanpreet Singh was clear about one thing after the defending champions survived a Pakistan fightback to reach the Asian Games hockey final — against a team of such calibre, there is no room for silly mistakes, especially when tempers flare and emotions threaten to take over.
India’s dramatic 4-3 semifinal victory on Thursday came at a cost, with a commanding 3-0 lead squandered as Pakistan fought back to draw level.
The contest also threatened to boil over, with a heated exchange in the 37th minute resulting in Pakistan’s Ammad Butt receiving a yellow card and India’s Dilpreet Singh being shown a green card, leaving the defending champions temporarily short-handed.
Harmanpreet had to step in to defuse the situation, urging his teammates to keep their composure as the intensity of the contest threatened to distract them from the task at hand. For the Indian captain, the priority was to play hockey, not get drawn into confrontations.
“We are here to play hockey. If we want to fight, we have to be calm. They were trying to distract us. Our focus is on the game. We don’t want to fight. I think we handled it well. They punished us. We took the card,” Harmanpreet said after the match.
The captain acknowledged that India had largely stuck to their game plan and started strongly, creating chances and converting them into goals. But the loss of control in the second half, coupled with disciplinary lapses, allowed Pakistan to claw their way back into a contest that India had appeared to have firmly in their grasp.
“We stuck to the plan most of the time. We started well, created opportunities and scored good goals. We made the same mistakes in the second half. We took a silly card. They also had a card. It was a good opportunity for us, and we were smart. We could score goals,” he said.
“These are the areas we have to improve, especially in such matches. If you come to a good tournament and play against a good team, you can’t make such mistakes.”
Harmanpreet described the contest as memorable, but admitted that India had been caught off guard by Pakistan’s ability to punish their errors. The defending champions had enjoyed a relatively comfortable passage through the tournament, but the semifinal presented a different challenge.
“Memorable. I think it’s not an easy match. We knew it wouldn’t be easy. The way we started was good. We scored good goals. Suddenly, you get a good match after playing (a pool game) against Bangladesh in the last game (which Indian won 10-0),” he said.
The captain felt India had been guilty of expecting more goals rather than consolidating their advantage, allowing Pakistan to capitalise on lapses in concentration. The comeback was a reminder that even a brief loss of focus could prove costly against a quality opponent.
“We were expecting to score more goals. We made mistakes, and they punished us,” Harmanpreet said.
Veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh echoed the need for composure, revealing that coach Craig Fulton’s message to the team had been to keep their emotions in check and remain focused on the contest rather than the occasion.
“Keep your heart on fire, but keep your mind calm. That’s what our coach always says. He says, play the game, not the occasion. You will get the result automatically,” Manpreet said.
Pakistan’s fightback exposed India’s defensive vulnerabilities, particularly when they were reduced to 10 players following Dilpreet’s green card. Ammad’s five-minute suspension had also briefly left Pakistan short-handed, but India failed to make the most of the numerical advantage and subsequently paid for their own disciplinary lapse.
Manpreet acknowledged that India’s defensive organisation could have been better, particularly during the period when they conceded a goal while temporarily down to 10 players.
“Unfortunately, no one wants to get a card. They got a five-minute card and we got a two-minute card. But the defensive players could have done better. When we conceded a goal in those two minutes, we knew how to handle it normally, but there was a little mistake,” he said.
The Indian midfielder admitted that the team had felt the pressure after surrendering its three-goal advantage, but insisted they were prepared for a shootout had the match remained tied.
“Yes, there was pressure. But even if there was a draw, we were ready for the shootout because we have very good shooters,” he said.
India’s last-minute winner eventually spared them a shootout and kept their title defence alive, but Manpreet cautioned against expecting an easy final, stressing that the team would need to maintain its intensity until the final whistle.
“It was good today, but I don’t think the final will be easy. All the teams in the final will give their 100 per cent. Our personal plan is to play until the last whistle and execute whenever we get an opportunity,” he said. PTI AM AM AH
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