India men’s hockey coach Graham Reid has warned his players against getting caught up in the moment and advised them to raise their game to the next level if they concede a goal in next month’s FIH World Cup.

India will open their World Cup campaign against Spain in Rourkela on January 13, the first day of the tournament.

“You sort of get caught up in the moment when you play an event of this magnitude (World Cup). Don’t let yourself get caught up in the moment. It could get quite daunting when you lose the ball, or concede a goal,” said Reid, who was part of the Australian side during the 1990 World Cup in Lahore.

“It is important to develop ‘the next thing’ mentality. You can’t change what happened so you just move on to the next task at hand, stay focused on what’s to be done,” he added.

Describing how the Australian team prepared for the World Cup in 1990, Reid said shutting the mind to the “raucous spectators” and “playing silently” had done the Australians a world of good during his playing days.

“In the lead up (to the 1990 World Cup), we played smaller games, and played silently. We were not allowed to talk. A recording of the crowd on loudspeakers would play in the background and we learnt not to rely on calling out but had to get used to turning around and looking,” he said in a release issued by Hockey India.