Times of India: Satisfied but could’ve done better: Belgium coach Shane McLeod

Feroz Khan

BHUBANESWAR: Belgium dominated Argentina for the better part of their Hockey World League Final opener before the Olympic champions showed some fight to score twice in five minutes on Saturday. But the world no. 3 managed to hold them off and secure a 3-2 victory, taking full three points.

Their coach Shane McLeod though wasn’t fully satisfied with the victory and said the team needs to improve in certain areas. “Satisfied with the points,” McLeod told TOI Sports when asked how he rated the performance. “We could’ve done better in some areas of the game. It’s our first game of the tournament so nice to get good start.”

McLeod said the team will be working on the game in the round-robin stage as the “strange format” affords them the luxury to not lose sleep over qualifying for the next stage. But he does feel that going into the quarter-finals with good results will put them in a good mindset.

“It’s a strange format. You want to be playing in the last games but during this stage, you are working on your game. You’ve to get better every game. In that regard it’s interesting. Although anyone can beat anyone, you want to go into the quarterfinal stage feeling well and having the game at a higher level,” he said.

It was the first time that Belgium and Argentina met after their Rio Olympic final but McLeod refused to term this as a revenge. “Not really. It certainly not a revenge and it will hopefully come later,” he said.

Saying his players are fit enough to last the rigours of HWL, McLeod, at the same time, admitted that going full steam at this stage might also prove to be counterproductive in the knockouts. “For sure. That’s always a factor but our guys are really fit. They actually get fitter the more you give them. They are built to play better at the end of the tournament rather than at the start,” he said.

So how are Belgium going to approach this tournament? “Playing to our potential. We certainly are one of the best teams in the world if not the best. We have to do well tactically against some nations, against others we just have to physically show our domination,” McLeod replied.