By Olympic Gold Medallist M. N. Masood
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India vs. USA | We arrived at the British Embassy at 10 pm,
half an hour later than we were expected. Of course, it was not a novel experience
for us, for we seldom reached a place at a given time.
Buses at the Village Gate waited half an hour, sometimes more, before they could carry their late occupants, who would drop by leisurely, one by one. We had never been punctual at a reception, game or anything, and this fact was known in the Village and outside. |
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India 7 – USA 0
India played her second international match against USA on 7th August at 6:00 pm in the Hockey Stadium. India's past prowess in hockey brought a bigger crowd than was usually seen in other matches, except when Germany played. Those who had never seen a hockey match before were loud in their appreciation of the Indian team, but those who had known hockey for sometime were greatly disappointed.
It was a very unimpressive game from the beginning to the end, and not once did India touch her form which had made her so popular in hockey circles of the world. A dry ground, a closely cropped lawn, an ideal weather and an opponent which was by no means rough - what more could India have wished? It should have been a day of fast, scientific hockey which India alone knows how to play.
In USA, there are about seven or eight teams, which started playing hockey only four years ago. From these teams, the USA side was picked, and the best amongst it could not hit a ball accurately. This same side extended India and lost by only 7-0, with the first goal being scored only in the 26th minute of the play.
Another regrettable thing was the grumbling in the team, which could be heard in the stands. Each player was blaming the other for bad play and shirking his own responsibility. Everyone wished to be spectacular and receive the ovation of the crowd at the sacrifice of science and teamwork.
Nine short-corners and nine long-corners were taken by India and no goal scored. The first two short-corners were penalised for carried by Dhyan Chand, and the rest were stopped accurately, but with the exception of one, all of them were dribbled through and given up to the defenders.
The first goal was scored by Jaffar who got the pass from Dhyan past two USA defenders who missed the ball altogether. This gave Jaffar an easy chance to score, and he made no mistake in utilising it.
The second goal came as a result of masterly dribbling by Dhyan Chand from a pass from Roop.
Jaffar scored the third goal after running from the centre-line and dribbling three defenders. A fine run and a good piece of dribbling.
At the interval, India was leading 3-0.
After the resumption India did not change her game, and only repeated what she had done in the first half of the game. No goal was scored till the 20th minute of the second half, and then four goals were added to the previous tally in fifteen minutes.
The fourth and fifth goals were scored by Roop after a bout of short passes and dribbling between Emmett, Dhyan and Roop.
Cullen scored the 6th goal with a powerful hit. He was playing too much forward at this stage and had taken Dhyan's position, who had dropped back in Cullen's position. Dhyan then scored his second and the match's last goal from a pass from Roop, who received it from Cullen.
It may be noted that during the whole game only three ‘through’ passes were made – one to the right wing and two to the left wing - and never a long hit or a 'cross' pass was used, passes which would have put a new complexion on the game.
The Indian team was as follows: Mitchie; Phillips and Gurcharan Singh; Ahsan, Cullen and Gallibardy; Ahmad Sher Khan, Emmett, Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh and Jaffar.
The British Embassy
In the evening, we were invited to the British embassy, where athletes from the dominions and Great Britain were also present. We arrived at the Embassy at ten, half an hour later than we were expected. Of course, it was not a novel experience for us, for we seldom reached any place at the given time.
Buses at the Village Gate waited half an hour, sometimes more, before they could carry their late occupants who dropped leisurely, one by one in them. We had never been punctual at a reception, game or anything, and this fact was known in the Village and outside.
There was a big crowd before the embassy's gate, and they cheered the late arrivals when we stepped on the footpath in our light-blue turbans. Sir Eric Phipps received us and Mr. Jagannath introduced us. We stayed for an hour at the embassy, which was overcrowded as besides the athletes of Great Britain and the dominions, other distinguished guests, including the Maharaja and the Maharani of Tripura were also present. Light refreshments were served on a big table.
Our cottage - Elbing House