Happy with the win but team will have to work harder: Nobbs
ORDOS (China): Even though happy with a 5-0 victory against China, Indian hockey coach Michael Nobbs said the team has a lot of work to do in the coming days and months if it intends to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics.
“I am happy for the boys as they needed a win to start off in this tournament,” Nobbs said after the match on Saturday, carefully watching his players cooling off on the practice pitch.
“But make no mistake this team has to put in a lot of work. We have spent a lot of time over the last four weeks explaining certain things and I am glad a few of those worked against China,” he added.
Satisfied to see the team play as a unit, Nobbs said with a smile: “That was a pleasant thing.”
“Each of them put in their best. In fact, Ravi Pal said to me after the game that this is the first international match he has enjoyed playing. The boys had fun as they were mixing well and helping each other out.”
India led 2-0 in the first half before pumping in three more goals in the second half. They played full press in the second half, not allowing much space to the Chinese.
“I think we mixed up the Australian and Indian styles. I feel that under Brasa, they did very well in the European method but we want them to play the Indian style with the Australian aggression,” explained Nobbs.
In fact, Nobbs felt that the positive in the match was to get the Indian method back and scoring goals.
Asked if he now harboured the ambitions of finishing on the podium, the Indian coach said, “I don’t think that is the way to really think at the moment. It will be fantastic to win a medal but I want them to learn from every match. That is the reason why we are here and let’s not forget that.”
Nobbs said this is the team that would play the Olympic Qualifying also.
“Yes, this is the core. But I also look forward to Shivender Singh, Tushar Khandekar and Arjun Halappa coming back from injuries. That would be the ideal mix when we go for the bigger tournaments,” he said.