Masti Point

While we are still trying to digest the shameful seventh position at the Champions Trophy, our team manager, Khawaja Junaid cracks the mother of all jokes while saying he is satisfied with the team’s performance.

According to the manager and captain of the team, Pakistan kept improving with each game throughout the tournament. A 2-1 loss to England, 4-2 against Spain, 6-1 surrender to the Aussies and a 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Germans. Indeed we improved each time! Even a blind eye can see the upgrading.

In the Champions Trophy, Pakistan picked up right from where they had left off in the World Cup last year; rock bottom. And if they continue with the same pace of improvement, God help us at the Olympics.

 
I was excited about the Champions Trophy. Pakistan had stepped up in the coveted event as the Asian Champions who had a four month long European tour and a triumph in Australia. Hockey fans had every reason to cheer for Pakistan. Sadly, most were only reading the results and not watching the action on TV. A clash with the big tigers of world hockey made us look like shivering lambs. You don’t need to be a hockey wizard to judge the performance. One look at the score line and even my 70 year old Dadi Jan would feel let down with such a dismal show.

 
So what went wrong?

 
“Everything”, says former great Waseem Feroz.

 
“I was particularly disappointed with the forward line. Compared with the super fit and skilled Europeans, our boys appeared dead in speed and stamina. Forwards are expected to go for the kill in the first 15 minutes but here they appeared in defensive mode. Secondly the ball possession was largely captured by the opponents. Our forwards held the ball for hardly 20 minutes. You can’t expect to win matches with such loose control.”

The role of goal-keepers Salman Akbar and Imran Shah was also criticized, but legendry custodian Mansoor Ahmed is quick to their defense.

 
“No-doubt the goal-keeper is the back bone of any team, but tell me how many goals are you going to stop if you face attacks every second minute. Trust me both these guys did a great job otherwise the results could have been much worse. It’s the defense that needs to step up and stop the attacks before they enter the 25 yards.”

 
Olympian Sameer Hussain stands right behind Mansoor and highlights another defense flaw,

 
“With the off-side rule gone, an opponent forward always tries to remain inside your D in a scoring position. We failed to mark that forward in every game, Just look at the clips and you will see this deadly mistake. The forwards was left un-marked and scoring for them was as easy as eating an apple pie. M. Imran being the senior defender should have stepped up for marking. Sadly he didn’t, and the ball kept finding the net.”

 
We saw all these mistakes happen but the troubling part was that they were all re-accruing ones, right from the first till the last game. So the big question is: Was there anyone out there telling the boys what was going wrong and how to correct it?

 
Yes there was. Head coach Michel van den Heuvel.

 
You would expect a coach to come out and accept defeats and cherish wins. Take Ric Charlesworth and Morris Hendricks for example. Interestingly the Hockey Federation has kept Michel well hidden while public relations expert, manager Khawaja Junaid is left to tackle the consequences. Hockey fans are hugely disappointed with the results and demand an answer for the below par performance. However, what sort of explanation do you expect when the captain and coach term such an outing satisfactory?

 
Champions Trophy was a show piece event before the Olympics where all the major powers displayed their muscles. Where we stand in this race is for anyone to guess. We won the Asian Games, but is that the only prize to bag in world hockey? Team management has time and again reiterated its statement that we have learned a lot from the Trophy and have seven months to improve before the Olympics. I would humbly remind Khawaja Sb that the bracket of improvement is not just reserved for his team – Do you really think the Europeans would come to London unprepared?

 
Experience has taught me that success is a result of hard work and consistent planning; you don’t just work hard for a few months and achieve accolades. The Europeans have been focused and determined with their planning while we are still juggling our options. Some of us die-hard fans will still show optimism and say that miracles do happen – let’s just hope God has one last miracle in stock for Pakistan Hockey.