PR Sreejesh ‘gaalis’ keep team going

Rohit Mahajan
Tribune News Service
Paris, August 4
Before the shoot-off for a place in the semifinals, PR Sreejesh, Indian goalkeeper, wondered if he had reached the end of the road. “I thought this can be my last match, or I can have two more,” Sreejesh said after a jailbreak of a victory over Great Britain.
The Kerala man would indeed have two more — semifinal and final, or semifinal and bronze medal match — thank you very much.
Sreejesh, 36, had announced before the tournament that his fourth Olympics would also be his last. After the 17th-minute red card for Amit Rohidas today, it seemed that it would be curtains for India — after all, for how long could the Indian defenders keep Great Britain from pressing home their one-man advantage? Right until the end, it turned out. The celebration by the players when the final hooter rang showed that for them, a draw with a one-man disadvantage was no less than victory — it was up to Sreejesh to give it the final touches and make it official.
Sreejesh did give it the final touches: A stunning block in the dying moments of the game in regulation time. Then the save in the shoot-off: As Philip Roper, eight seconds in his hand to shoot, went towards the goal, Sreejesh, his arms outstretched, faced him squarely; trying to create an angle, Roper turned left, and Sreejesh followed; Roper tried to lift it over the falling Sreejesh, who pawed it away — the final touch.
What was he thinking? “See, shoot-offs are normal for us, we train a lot for them,” said the big goalie, his rubbery shoes squawking on the floor. “There are two parts of it — one, kill those eight seconds, then save the goal. When you kill the time, the pressure is on the player, and he tries something wrong.”
Roper, running out of time to shoot, made the mistake — he couldn’t lift the ball high enough to beat Sreejesh.
“Sreejesh is the legend, sir!” said Harmanpreet Singh, the captain, who had a great game as the pillar of defence. Sreejesh won the game for India? “Team India won the game,” he said. “No doubt he’s the best goalkeeper we have. He’s saving us from Day 1, but if you ask even him, he would say that it was a team effort.”
Sreejesh indeed said that. “You need support from your players (in shoot-off),” he said. “My players scored four goals. That gave me confidence, took pressure off me. So, it’s not about me, it’s about them!”
Manpreet Singh, former captain, said the ‘gaalis’ showered by Sreejesh at them when they’re not sticking to the plans sound like music. “I know how to keep this defence on their toes!” Sreejesh grinned. “My words to them… Everyone knows what BC, MC gaalis are, but for the players, they are like music. When they hear them from me, they know they’re doing something wrong, and they correct that! It works!”
Indian fans hope that it would work at least twice more, including in the final.