India has some quality players, says Charlesworth

Sports Reporter

Pakistan’s Abdul Haseem Khan (right) celebrates after scoring the team’s second goal.
NEW DELHI: Australian coach Ric Charlesworth had some good words for the Indian team after his team thrashed the host 5-2.

Charlesworth, who had guided India for some time as a consultant, said the Indian team must show more consistency. “I know the players well, there are some quality players. The win against Pakistan did not surprise me. But to be consistent is the issue and it is a big challenge,” the hockey legend said.

Reflecting on his stint in India, Charlesworth said, “I had come to help India. With a better organizational structure they can make a very good team.”

Charlesworth said India and Australia should play more matches for the benefit of both the sides. Tuesday’s fixture was the start of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in hockey and Australia bagged the Ajitpal-Charlesworth Trophy after its win.

On key Indian striker Shivendra Singh’s absence due to suspension, Charlesworth said, “Shivendra is a good player. But every team can cover such contingencies.”

The Aussie coach said his team’s aim was to play aggressively and the players executed the plans well. Dwyer said his side wanted to made early damage by scoring as many goals as possible and thereby negate the strong crowd support for the home side.

Outpaced

India coach Jose Brasa admitted that Australia was a fitter team than his team and outpaced the host. “We played with a lot of mind. We played at a pace we wanted to play. We can now match the pace of Spain,” he said. Brasa backed his players strongly. “It (the defeat) has no impact on the players. Our players are mentally very strong.”

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Steven Smith, who was present to watch the match, said both India and Australia shared hockey culture and it could help build a good partnership between the two nations.

Different approach

Pakistan approached its crucial hockey World Cup game against Spain with a different strategy and it paid off, said captain Zeeshan Ashraf here on Tuesday.

“After the loss to India, we made a lot of effort. We adopted a different strategy of controlling the midfield and it worked,” Zeeshan said after his team’s 2-1 victory.

Curbing its normal attacking approach was the reason behind Pakistan not getting enough penalty corners in the match. “We wanted to slow the game down and that is why we did not attack on both sides,” Zeeshan said.

Not convincing

England captain Barry Middleton agreed that after the brilliant performance against Australia, his team’s 6-4 win against South Africa was not a convincing one.

“We played well only in the second half,” Middleton said, adding that his side missed the crowd support it had in the match against the Aussies.

South African coach Gregg Clark admitted that his team lost focus after half-time.

“In a four to five minute period, we conceded three goals and it made the difference. Otherwise, we competed very well,” he said.