France - Spain Tour 2012

[arjun2761]

Yes, more circle penetrations is certainly an encouraging sign. However, did we win the PC count race? Forcing PCs will be an effective strategy for us given our strong drag flickers.

[hun]

One thing which is haunting me is our penalty corner conversion rate against the top teams. I don’t know how many variations we are going to employ in penalty corner execution may be Mr. Nobbs wants to keep it all secret. May be in the Olympics we got to see some variation. I feel straight drag flicks won’t work 100% against the top Goal keepers. (Ragunath and Sandeeep both missed two opportunities each in the first game against Spain). Of late I haven’t seen much variation in penalty corner execution. All the top teams are employing double batteries which is meant for deceiving the runners and gaining time for the drag flickers. Apart from this they also mostly go for indirect conversion. The moves or passes are so calculated and precise that almost all the defenders got deceived leaving the striker only to fox the goalkeeper.

[ankit1407]

not too sure if its streamed or not, tried looking but could not find it..anyone ? second match should be about to start i assume

[ankit1407]

We lost the second match 2-1 , half time score was 1-1...seems like a tight contest but would have to wait to read some official report..

As per some twitter feeds seems like it was a late goal which costed us, oh well late goal nothing new in that...

[arjun2761]

Slightly dissapointing loss after we seemingly had the better of the exchanges in the first match -- however, you generally can't read too much into these close practice matches. Thankfully, we aren't getting outplayed which would have been meaningful, I think.

[PKBasu]

A bit disappointing, but if you had told me 6-12 months ago that we would playing Spain in Spain, and losing by a thin margin in game 2, after drawing 3-3 in the first game, I would have taken it very happily. There is progress, especially as we aren't necessarily playing our first XI, and are holding back on the best penalty-corner formations (which we will hopefully unleash only at the Olympics).

[hun]

Encouraging comments from Nobbs despite the team's 0-1 series loss to Spain.
http://www.sportal.co.in/other-sports-n ... lay-186351

"Yesterday's game was a very good contest and we should have won. We have improved every game in the general playing style, but we are letting ourselves down with finishing," he said on Saturday.

"If we can overcome this, we will be a very formidable team. This is proving challenging but not insurmountable," he added.

"We had another 36 circle penetrations yesterday and four open goal chances missed. Frustrating as we are so close to delivering some impressive results," he said.

"Our general field play now, I am comfortable, is matching all the top teams and have no fear that we can't perform consistently against the top teams. The only thing left is our finishing and not being more aware of the time in the last part of either half - to be more controlled."

[ankit1407]

India Leads SA 5-1 , second half in progress...

[bujilover]

Shame that no Indian channel is broadcasting it .

[ankit1407]

just not Indian channel, I think the match does not have any live coverage...Just reading on twitter suggests so...no official source..

Its 5-2 now

[ankit1407]

5-3, 21 mins to go in second half...

[ssp]

Looking a bit dodgy after taking such a big 1st half lead. With 21 mins left, I fear we need to score again to ensure a win, otherwise panic will set in....as usual.

[ankit1407]

India score..6-3..I assume 10mins to go..

[ankit1407]

6-4 , 4 mins to go...I love the fact we scored 6 but damn we have conceded 4...

[ssp]

We are making hard work of this match. 4 mins at the end of any Indian match is a time to shut your eyes and hope for the best.
Fairly poor 2nd half showing so far.