Jose Brasa is in two minds. The chief coach of Indian men’s hockey team was homesick before the Commonwealth Games and wanted to pack his bags to Spain. He is not so desperate now to return home. The Spaniard is keen to keep his job after the Asian Games in Guangzhou. What has forced Brasa to change his mind remains a mystery. Brasa’s contract runs only until the end of the Asiad and his continuation will largely depend on India’s performance at Guangzhou.
The Asian Games poses a stern test to Brasa’s class. Having done reasonably well at the Commonwealth Games after the low of the World Cup earlier this year, the Spaniard will be bullish about his team’s chances. More than a gold medal is at stake in the Chinese city. The bonus for winning the Asian Games is a place at the 2012 London Olympics.
India’s failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics resulted from their abysmal show at the 2006 Asian Games. Under V. Baskaran’s stewardship, India weren’t even able to make it to the semifinals in Doha. In a sense, the script for Beijing was written at the Qatari capital.
Mohammed Riaz, a member of India’s triumphant Asiad team in 1998, says the heat is on Brasa at the Asian Games. “There will be a clamour to replace him if he fails to deliver. He has been in charge for nearly two years, so he can’t say he hasn’t been given adequate time,” he adds.
According to Riaz, India’s silver at the Commonwealth Games must be taken with a pinch of salt. “Australia exposed us in the final with an eight-goal hammering. Fans lapped up our win over Pakistan in the group stage. But I would not attach a lot of significance to the result because Pakistan were shambolic that day. Barring the win over England in the semi-final, there wasn’t much to rave about India’s performance at the Commonwealth Games,” he says.
The Asian Games, Riaz points out, will judge India’s standing in the continent unequivocally. “All big teams take the Asian Games seriously. Brasa has got a chance to prove his tactical acumen. Even though Pakistan haven’t been able to put up a fight against us in the World Cup and the CWG, they will be a big threat at the Asiad (Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh and Hong Kong are in India’s group),” he says.
The former centre-half says Brasa could have done better had he got a deeper pool of talent to choose his teams from. “He has been picking his teams from a fixed group of around 25 to 30 players. In the absence of the national championship, there is no way new players can come through. It’s a pity Brasa is forced to juggle a handful in a country of India’s population,” he adds.