New Delhi: Italy may be renowned for their impregnable defence in football but hockey is not their forte – a fact reaffirmed by Canada, who went past the Italian defenders nine times in a demolition job to set the ball rolling in men's Olympic qualifiers at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Saturday.
The result also rang the alarm bells for hot favourites India, who can't loosen their armour until the ghost of 2008 is dead and buried, or else teams like Canada will pounce on their prey.
Rob Short, 39, may be the oldest in the six-team event but his Man-of-the-Match performance of two goals can give the best a run for their money. Skipper Ken Periera – the most capped (342) player in the tournament – couldn't have asked more from his team with an average age of 27, which is the oldest along with Poland. And to come up with nine goals without letting even a single one in speaks volumes of this Canadian team.
India – who will open their campaign against Singapore in the last match on Saturday – have had their problems with defence of late. Sandeep Singh can be excellent with his drag-flicks and pretty average with his tackles. Rupinderpal Singh and VR Raghunath aren't even half-good as past stalwarts in the defence, like Pargat Singh and Dilip Tirkery. And India's bad old habit of conceding last-minute equalisers and winners has hurt them badly, with the most recent example being the Champions Challenge-I final against Belgium.
But India's coach Michael Nobbs has been pretty happy with the progress Indian defence has made, while maintaining it has never been India's strong point. "We'll make sure that the things we aren't great at get to a level that is reasonable."
On paper, India are expected to stroll through to the top spot on the podium, and hence an Olympic berth, but what Canada dished out to the Italians on Saturday confirms it's much tighter than it appears.
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