Graham Reid, the chief coach of the Indian men’s hockey team, believes in keeping his feet on the ground and so has reminded his team, who began their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Spain, that the next match, against England, is going to be a far tougher assignment.
England, for the record, had brushed aside Wales 5-0 in their opening Pool D match.
Playing at home at a fantastic venue — the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela — with around 21,000 fans raising the decibels in support, India certainly have reasons to be confident of another impressive outing. But at the same time, they will have to be alert to not step into the forbidden territory of overconfidence, because England have the resources to hurt the hosts.
In simpler terms, India cannot drop their intensity. They will have to be sharp in attack and, more importantly, will have to hold their defence together because letting in soft goals has been a historical problem for the team. Having said that, India did admirably well at the back against the Spaniards on Friday.
Harmanpreet Singh (left) in good mood with teammate Hardik Singh on Saturday. PTI photo
“We are up against England and it will be tougher, they are ranked higher than us. We know how tough England were in the Commonwealth Games,” Reid said. “So, we will try to continue our good work. We did really well defensively (against Spain), we have to continue that,” he added.
Last year, the two sides faced each other three times, with their last match, played at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, ending 4-4 in the group stage. They had played out a 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Pro League match before India won 4-3 in the second.
While defensively they need to be leakproof, India also need to look at their conversion rate in front of the goal. Against Spain, they wasted a good number of chances, including a penalty stroke, captain Harmanpreet Singh being the culprit.
“Winning penalty corners is very important and we can be better in conversion. We are hoping we will do better in that aspect,” said the drag-flicker.
It is important to top the group for a smooth passage to the quarters and Sunday’s game might decide which team will earn that right.
With inputs from PTI
