India are better than what scores might suggest, says Charlesworth

NEW DELHI - The mens hockey gold medal at the 19th Commonwealth Games was another brick in the wall for Australia who are now preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, according to coach Ric Charlesworth.

At the media conference following Australias 8-0 pasting of India in the final here Thursday, Charlesworth said: The scoreline did not reflect the relative merits of the teams. I think, it (8-0 margin) was an aberration. India is a far better team than what the scores might suggest.

He opined that the game turned after the first 15 minutes when India kept possession to deny the Aussies any opportunity to even make a move, much less attempt to score a goal.

We were sloppy and untidy in the first 10 minutes of the game and the first 10 minutes of the second-half. So, thats 20 minutes. Tactically, the Indians were quite impressive until we started to score.

Like I had said earlier this week, perhaps, India were not used to playing in the mid-day heat since all their previous matches were late in the evening while we had to play in the day.

As for the gold medal, it is just another brick in the wall. Our focus is on the 2012 Olympics in London, said Charlesworth whose team this year won the World Cup and the Champions Trophy before finishing off with the gold medal here.

Australia team skipper Liam de Young said: We never expected an easy game today. Had India converted the penalty corner in the first-half, the crowd would have got into the game.

Jose Brasa, the Indian team coach, said he was very disappointed at the outcome, but attributed the huge defeat to his players not having sufficient time to recover from the semi-final game against England that they won on penalties.

We didnt do anything wrong tactically. But obviously, the players were still to recover fully from the game against England that went into extra-time and tie-breaker.

The players need to rest now for at least 10 days before we begin our camp for the next months Asian Games, the coach said.

Skipper Rajpal Singh said the Australians converted almost every chance that came their way and it made a big difference in the end.

We did the same against Pakistan to score seven goals. Today, Australia scored every time they made a penetration. These things happen. We also had scored seven against Korea in the Asia Cup in Chennai. It is part of the game, he said.

Brasa opined that there was nothing to be ashamed of since India had lost only to the best team in the World.

Australia scored six goals in the semi-finals and eight in the final. They are the No.1 team in the World and we are only a few steps behind them. It might take us a few years of hard work to get to that level, he said.