The Indian women's hockey team's road to Paris begins on Saturday in Ranchi as they take on the USA in their first group game of the Olympic qualifying tournament.
India's last game against USA was the one that won them qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. After winning the first leg comfortably 5-1, they were 4-0 down and staring at an abyss before Rani Rampal stepped up with a superb goal to take India through with a 6-5 win on aggregate. Coincidentally, Janneke Schopman, now India's head coach, was in the other bench on that day as head coach of the USA.
Match details
In a group that also involves New Zealand, Schopman's first aim will be to ensure no hiccups on opening night. India will play Italy in their second game, and two wins in their opening two should put them in charge of the group in their pursuit for a semifinal spot, from where three of the four teams will qualify for Paris.
Start time: 7:30pm IST
Telecast: Sports 18 network, and live streaming on JioCinema
Do India have any concerns?
Experienced players are missing
This team has now evolved beyond Rani Rampal, but that is still a considerable number of international caps taken away. In addition, Gurjit Kaur isn't in the squad, Vandana Katariya is injured and Deep Grace Ekka hasn't been picked for reasons "that only she herself can explain," according to Schopman. In a tournament where keeping a cool head under pressure will be vitally important, the other outfield players will have to help captain Savita Punia in keeping the whole team calm and focused on the gameplan.
How they react to adversity
In the recent past, especially at the Asian Games, India weren't particularly a side that showed the ability to bounce back. The Asian Games semifinal is a prime example, where they went a goal down to China, and then the heads dropped, and they eventually lost 4-0.
When India don't score early enough, these players have shown a tendency to rush things a bit too much, snatch at chances, or try to do things too quickly, which leads to breakdowns and turnovers. Schopman has had long enough with this team now for such a basic issue to be corrected. India will likely face packed defences in their opening two games against the USA and Italy. How calm they are, how patient they are, and how much they trust their own style to come off, even if the first couple of quarters don't go their way, will go a long way to determining India's chances.
Penalty corner conversion
Schpman is aware that this is an area where her team can improve. However, in a chat with ESPN back in September, she said that it's important to not benchmark penalty corners in the women's game against the men. "A 30% conversion rate is good in the men's game, but for us, if we can get ourselves to 15 or 20%, that is where we want to be," she said.
India, at the Asian Champions Trophy, didn't touch even 10% in terms of their penalty corner conversion, so that right there is an obvious and tangible area of improvement that is needed at this tournament, and beyond.
Indian players to watch out for
Sangita Kumari played a starring role in India's victory at the Women's Asian Champions Trophy in November, scoring six goals. Schopman has been on a quest to find a clinical finisher up front ever since Rani was kept away from the squad.
Sangita built up a fine understanding with India's other attacking players, like Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur and Salima Tete. In the absence of Vandana, the forward line has a big task ahead of them, to ensure that chances are both created and taken. Most importantly, India will be looking to Sangita for a quick start, and a goal or two in the first quarter to settle the nerves down.
Deepika Kumari is now India's first-choice dragflicker, in the absence of Gurjit Kaur and Deep Grace Ekka. It is a department where India have consistently struggled, and it hasn't been due to a lack of chances. Deepika and India's other dragflickers have spent time with former men's team penalty corner specialist Rupinderpal Singh, who is confident in their abilities and plans, and says it now boils down to execution.
Against a team like the USA, the skill of the Indian attackers in the circle will come into play, and the result could be the team earning a large number of penalty corners. Deepika is likely to have some of the penalty corner load taken away from her by Udita Duhan's slap hits, but as now the sole dragflicker in the side, a considerable opportunity awaits her. She needn't look that far for inspiration, as Rupinder was the men's team's second highest goalscorer enroute to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Neha Goyal is India's engine room in midfield. The success at the women's Asian Champions Trophy was built on India's ability to keep possession well, and then winning it back quickly whenever they lost it. With 143 caps to her name already, Neha is India's most experienced midfielder, and she has been in these pressure situations before. In this game, she will have to control possession, try to dictate terms, but also be aware of turnovers.
The USA are likely to field a counter-attacking game-plan, so for the team in possession, not giving the ball away in dangerous areas, while also taking enough risks to try and break a deep defensive block down is a fine balance to strike. Neha will be key to finding that, as she's most likely to be the one in midfield tasked with running up and down.