Times of India: We took a little longer to adjust: Sjoerd Marijne

Feroz Khan

BHUBANESWAR: India men’s hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne said his team took more time to adjust to the conditions in their 0-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina at the Hockey World League Final, in a contest marred by inclement weather and water-logged turf.

“We took time to adjust, a little bit longer than we wanted,” Marjine said while addressing the media after the match. “The third quarter was much better than the first two. I can’t blame anyone for this loss. We had more PCs and more shots on the goals against the Olympic champions. Yes, the circumstances are different but it was the same for both the teams.”

He refused to blame the conditions for the defeat saying they were same for both the teams. “Both teams couldn’t play their best games. You have to deal with the circumstances and make the best of it. You can’t complaint. Both teams faced the difficulties,” he said.

Argentina converted their only penalty corner of the game while India got two back-to-back penalty corners late but couldn’t score in front of a packed Kalinga Stadium with people braving the rain and the cold winds to cheer the teams. “If you concede just one penalty corner against Argentina, I feel you have done quite good. They have a good drag-flicker [Gonzalo Peillat] and they converted their only chance,” was the Dutch’s assessment of what made the difference.

Marjine also explained why India didn’t use the high balls effectively as Argentina. “The reason we couldn’t use the high ball as much as they could was because they were far back defending. If we would have defended like them, they would have also not been able to use the high ball. But we wanted to press them the entire match. When you are 0-1 behind, you need to press more,” he said.

For the first time in the tournament, India captain Manpreet Singh didn’t address the media and in his stead, vice-captain Chinglensana joined the coach. When asked where his team fell behind the Olympic champions, he said, “We fought as much as we could till the last minute. Finishing could have been better.”

Argentine coach complained about the scheduling of the tournament and how India got more rest than his team ahead of the semi-final. Marjine refused to comment on the issue saying, “I don’t know the condition or state of Argentine team, so can’t comment on that. Things that I can’t have influence on, I don’t get busy with. I can’t speak about their coach.”