S2H Team

Manpreet Singh, India captain, found his voice after a 1-7 demolition by Australia in a men’s Pool ‘A’ hockey encounter at the Oi Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday.

“We expected a strong performance from a great side like Australia,” the midfielder said. “Our man-man marking was poor and they punished us for it.”

“However, this is a lesson for us. We are disappointed but we must now focus on bouncing back. There are, after all, three matches to go in the pool stage,” he added.

“We missed chances at the start and that makes a difference when it happens against top sides,” the Indian captain reflected remorsefully.

Manpreet revealed that the team chat touched upon aiming to hit the top game in the next encounter. “We need to play with a high level of energy from the start to the final hooter.

“Even in the last game, we exerted pressure on the opponents in the third quarter but we failed to sustain it,” he said.

Indian head coach Graham Reid, an Australian, knew his adversaries all too well. He coached them at Rio 2016 and played 130 internationals in the vibrant green-and-gold, collecting an Olympic silver medal at Barcelona 1992.

“When they (the Australians) are in that sort of mood, it’s very hard to stop them. We simply have to put the ball in the net to put some scoreboard pressure on them and that means making use of the chances that come your way. Something they did and we didn’t!”

Reid affirmed that India were in the game and looked back to the third quarter where they made inroads, scored a goal and could have put in another two.

“The game has changed and you can score quickly like in indoor hockey,” Reid said. But we lost tempo, lost a referral….”

Any positives from the match?

“Had we scored from a penalty corner, it would have been 1-1 and, who knows, things could’ve been different.

“Sure. The boys fought till the end. And if you look at it, we got as many goal opportunities as they did. We were making opportunities even in that last quarter.”

Reid drew reference to the Euro 2017 championship in Amstelveen where The Netherlands lost 0-5 to Belgium but eventually beat them in the final.

When asked how the team intends picking itself up, Reid said: “We are very wary about our morale being affected. We will make sure it won’t happen. We will look at what can be fixed and focus on the next training session and the next game. That’s the mindset with which we wish to go ahead.

“Most importantly, we’ve got to put the ball in the goal,” Reid signed off.