A barrage of attacks by India in the first quarter, including a shot from Abhishek hitting the crossbar on the Argentine post, suggested a goal was around the corner for the Tokyo bronze medallist. But until the 59th minute, it was the 2016 Olympic champions who held onto their 1-0 lead in the Pool B match of the Paris Olympics.
A soft error by PR Sreejesh on a miscued hit by Lucas Martinez saw the tenacious Argentina taking the lead in the 22nd minute, and they hung onto it deep into the fourth quarter.
In the 56th minute, desperate to find the equalizer, India took their trusted custodian Sreejesh off the pitch to have an extra field-player in the form of attacker Gurjant Singh at their disposal.
The move to bring an extra field-player into the attack did the trick for India, enabling a relentless attack on the Argentine circle and a video referral that gave India a penalty corner in the 59th minute. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh scored off it to earn India a point when all seemed lost.
As soon as it was 1-1, India brought Sreejesh back to guard the post for the last minute, taking defender Jarmanpreet Singh off. The teams shared the spoils, taking home one point each.
THE RULE OVER THE YEARS
Teams taking their goalkeepers off the pitch in the dying stages of the 60-minute game is a common sight in hockey, especially in matches during elite competitions like the Olympics and World Cups where each goal, each point, and every win matters.
So the side that is trailing or is in must-win situations during such big matches usually brings in an extra field-player.
In literal sense, it’s the last throw of the dice by the team desperate to find goal(s) before a match ends.
Here’s what rule 2.2 under the ‘Composition of Teams’ header in the ‘FIH Rules of Hockey’ states:
“Each team has either a goalkeeper on the field or plays only with field players. Each team may play with:
– a goalkeeper wearing a different-colour shirt and protective equipment comprising at least headgear, leg guards and kickers; this player is referred to in these Rules as a goalkeeper; or
– only field-players; no player has goalkeeping privileges or wears a different-colour shirt; no player may wear protective headgear except a face mask when defending a penalty corner or a penalty stroke; all team players wear the same colour shirt.”
Until 2019 a field-player replacing a goalkeeper used to have goalkeeping privileges and wore a different-colour vest over the team jersey, often termed as a kicking-back in the hockey circles. But the rule has been amended as above since then.
INDIA AT PARIS OLYMPICS
As far as the Paris Games are concerned, India now have four points from a win (3-2) against New Zealand and the draw (1-1) against Argentina so far in Pool B with matches left to play against Ireland, Belgium and Australia.
Top four teams from the two pools go through to the quarter-finals.





Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *