Need to work on our finishing, says Indian hockey coach
India hockey coach Michael Nobbs was quite satisfied with his team’s 3-2 victory over Canada in the London Olympics qualifiers but said the his boys need to work more on their finishing.
“We played pretty well considering the opposition. Statistically, we penetrated into rival defence about 30 to 40 times in comparision to Canada who just had two shots at the goal and earned two penalty corners. So, I am personally happy. We were rushing through a little and didn’t finish as well we wanted. We had our chances and could have sealed the match much earlier,” he said.
With today’s win, India are virtually in the finals and Nobbs said he would employ a different strategy.
“It doesn’t matter who we meet in the final, we have to win to be in London and we will try to employ a different strategy in the finals,” he said.
Asked about their next match against Poland, Nobbs said: “We would like to experiment a bit against Poland. I don’t know how the match would pan out. It depends on how they play, I don’t see them making the finals but of course, I can be wrong.”
About Yuvraj Walmiki’s injury status, the coach said a clearer picture will emerge tomorrow.
“He complained of pain and it was an hamstring injury. We did the MRI and CT Scan but nothing conclusive so far, we will only know tomorrow,” he said.