We played with brain and not emotions: Brasa

India coach Jose Brasa hailed his men for “playing with the brain and not emotions” in the 4-1 outplaying of Pakistan in their thrilling hockey World Cup opening match in New Delhi but advised them not to get carried away by Sunday’s result.

“It was great we won 4-1. The boys played really well and they deserved to win. They played with brain and not with emotions,” said Brasa, who had before the match advised his players to cut off emotions against Pakistan.

“But it was just a match and we got three points and nothing else. We should keep our feet on the ground as we have a long way to go with very tough matches coming up,” said Brasa at the post-match press conference.
“But no doubt the boys played to the plan. We played really well in the first half. We played as a team. We had a lot of control in the first half. Our midfield played well, cutting off the passes by Pakistan. In the second half we lost some concentration,” he added.

He said Sandeep Singh played very well in the match but also added that he can do better in remaining matches.

“Sandeep played really well but he can do better and I think he will do better in the coming matches,” Brasa said.

Asked why Sreejesh Raveendran manned the Indian goal instead of Adrian D’Souza, he said, “There is no injury or anything on Adrian. We have two very good goalkeepers and we thought Sreejesh would do well today.”