India hoping for `deja vu' in KL

21/02/2002

IT has been 27 years since India last won the World Cup, but they have
reasons to believe that they can go the distance in the 10th edition
starting on Sunday.
Yesterday the Indian team played a friendly match against the South
Africans to keep themselves match-fit for the big day because they
declined invitation for the January Six-Nation believing that they will be
playing a few friendlies against Argentina in Buenos Aires.
But political unrest in Argentina shelved the plan and India ended up
only training since winning the Champions Challenge in December.
Coach Cedric D'Souza was a busy man yesterday and since he has achieved
two out of three targets he set when taking over the reigns, he has reason
to keep himself busy with the team.
Cedric promised to take India into the World Cup and they qualified in
Edinburgh; his second target was to win the Champions challenge and take
India into the elite Champions Trophy circle - and he achieved that in
December.
But his third target of winning the World Cup in Malaysia will be hard
to achieve, and the critics back home know about it.
"It has been repeatedly said that we have an easy group in the World
Cup, but I am not one to take the opponent lightly just by studying their
previous record. This is the World Cup and every team will automatically
bring out their best so it is too early to predict the outcome of
matches," said Cedric.
Winning the Champions Challenge trophy is not seen as a big achievement
back home in India because the teams they beat were Malaysia, South
Africa, Japan, Belgium and Argentina and not the leading teams chasing for
the World Cup - Holland, Germany, Australia, Pakistan and Korea.
The indians have seen a slide in their performance and the eight time
Olympic gold medallists finished a measly eighth in the 1996 Atlants
Olympics and at the 2000 Sydney Olympics did marginally better by
finishing seventh.
And in the Champions Challenge they were not too impressive as they
squeezed past Belgium 1-0, drew with South Africa 2-2, and then lost 2-1
to Malaysia. It was only a brilliant display by goalkeeper Jude Menezes
that helped India beat Argentina 2-1 in the concluding league match,
before defeating South Africa 2-1 in the final.
Cedric said many are of the opinion that Malaysia is like their second
home with the food and weather ideal to the Indians. But he refused to
share the opinion.
"I don't believe that, and there is no such thing like luck or
favourable ground venue as an advantage. But we must work hard and if the
players put an all out effort no mater in which country they play there is
nothing to stop a team from taking the number one position."
And that is why instead of celebrating the Champions Challenge title,
Cedric put his charges on a gruelling schedule atthe Chennai training camp
to "shake and stir them."
The focus has been on eliminating India's single biggest weakness down
the years, namely an inability to score from penalty-corners, and from
opportunities created inside the circle.
If they can do that, nothing can stop them from lifting the title last
won by Ajitpal Singh and his men.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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