The boys won’t shave till the job is over, says Weise

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Germany may have entrusted the arduous task of defending the World Cup hockey title mostly to young turks but coach Markus Weise feels the team has to first seal a place in the semifinals before looking ahead.

“The boys are not going to shave their beards till the job is over,” revealed Weise before adding that Australia was indeed the team to beat.

“If we were to play Australia in a series, we may not have won. But in the World Cup, you play a team once, or twice. And on the given day, any result is possible.”

Weise was speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of an informal get together hosted by the German Ambassador Thomas Matussek on Saturday.

The evening also saw panel discussion on the present state of hockey in the two countries. The five-member panel comprised the German captain Maximillian Muller, coach Weise, Ambassador Matussek along with former Indian Olympians Zafar Iqbal and Pargat Singh.

Later, Matussek said sport had great potential to bring nations together and foster friendship. “Like cricket in India, soccer is the mass-sport in Germany. As a result, hockey has to fight for attention,” said the friendly Matussek, who took over charge in November last year.

Young team

Weise, the articulate coach of the current World and Olympic champion team, said, “The team that won the Olympic gold was a different one. This young team has the potential to be a strong side.

“This potential may not be visible in the next one week. The results here may not reflect the potential of this team. But for us in Germany, the Olympics is more important than World Cup. Hopefully, we’ll have a strong team in 2012 London Olympics.”

About his impressions of the present Indian team, Weise said, “I have not seen any of the live games involving India here. But whatever action I could catch on television, I think the team adopted the European style very well in the match against Pakistan.

Taking five goals against Australia was no shame because many teams have suffered more. Against Spain, I felt the Indian defence had an unenviable task. It was unfair to expect Sandeep Singh to mark one of the best forwards in the game.

“I am looking at Indian hockey from a distance. In our country, the hockey players have to be more ambitious to excel and attract government funding. So players wanting to play the game professionally, strive a lot harder.

“Like in Germany, if you have a pool of around 30 players with a mix of a few exceptional talents, some not-so-talented and mostly average players, I think you can build a good team in three years. But then, I don’t know how it works in your country.”

Earlier, Sports Minister M.S. Gill, in his speech, spoke about the excitement generated for hockey due to the ongoing World Cup, his love the sport and how everyone wanted India to fare better after two successive losses.