After the triumph in Spain, the Indian team focuses on the crucial match against England

Rourkela, January 14 (UNI) Playing in front of a packed crowd, the India men’s hockey team recorded a thrilling 2-0 victory in the opening match of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup Odisha 2023 in Bhubaneswar-Roorkela. Friday at the brand new Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium.

Despite local youngster Amit Rohitas and young midfielder Hardik Singh scoring, it was rock-solid defense that helped the hosts start their campaign with a resounding victory.

Speaking to reporters at the post-match press conference, India men’s hockey team head coach Graham Reid said: “We kept the ball out of the goal. It was a good start. I think it always happens, you try to maintain it.” the ball went out of the goal and we managed to do it, so that part was great.”

In addition, he reflected: «We have been practicing playing with 10, since at one point in the tournament we thought that we would play with 10, and today we played with 10. It was good. I think we got ahead. A lot today, that was very important. We were on the ball first, that makes a big difference in these types of games.”

Echoing the head coach’s comments, captain Harmanpreet Singh said: “We talk every day that we need to be strong defensively because whether you score or not, it’s important to be strong defensively and you can’t make silly mistakes. All the boys did well, when we were down one man, said the coach. Paul said that we have focused on training in the area and that has helped us in the game.

Reflecting on his individual performance, ace Drac-Flicker said: “Yes, I missed scoring penalty corners and putting in short shots, but that’s part of the game. I have to forget and move on and focus on what to do next. In general, we played well. Our forward players created penalty corners every time they came into D so that’s a positive sign for us and our focus for the next game will be to take advantage of those opportunities.”

In the second match of Group D, England, India’s opponent, dominated Wales 5-0. The two teams were tied 4-4 in the group stage of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

When asked about the team’s state of mind for the next game, Harmanpreet said: “Learning, confidence, energy, tone and work rate – these are all very important, so let’s do it in the next game.”

He added: “You can’t take any game lightly, yes we won, but that doesn’t mean we stop focusing on the next game. Our goal is to be competitive. Once the match is over, we start focusing on the next match, that was our mentality.”

Meanwhile, the head coach said: “First, I am happy with the defensive effort. Second, I think we handled the ball well. If you look around the field, there are not many people. I played well yesterday. That’s what happened”. it takes to win a World Cup, everyone has to play at their best level.”

Yes, you can have a bad play or two here and there, but the goal is to have as many good plays as you can. We have to take advantage of that in the next game against England », he concluded. .

India will take on England in their second match of Pool D of the FIH Men’s World Cup Odisha 2023 Bhubaneswar-Roorkela on Sunday at 1900 hrs IST.

UNI DP RKM