Will spend all energy tomorrow in the final

CR Kumar, the Indian coach may not be happy on the over all performance of the Indian team that struggled from the beginning in the Delhi Olympic Qualifier.

But he is realistic.

“We need a win today, and got it. Whether it is by one goal or five goals hardly matters, he said.

He was of course happy the grit and gumption the team showed today after the previous harrowing outing, against South Africa.

“From the beginning of the tournament, we have been under pressure after losing point in the opener (Ukraine). There are many teams against whom we have not played or seen them playing. This counted as we made progress. It is not correct we carried out the trauma of Africa match. Had it been we would have performed the way had done today”, he said.

“Players have mental strength to overcome the yesterday’s defeat. Otherwise they would not have won today”.

Discussing in length about the loopholes in the team and of the tasks that lie ahead tomorrow, he said “Strong teams have strong left-side defense and we are not upto the mark to on this”.

He was not unduly disturbed about the rate of penalty corner conversion. “The problem in penalty corner is stopping, and almost all the teams struggle. We are not the exceptions. The point that concerns me is, how to adjust to that. I feel our players need to be alert in such situation. I sincerely felt Asunta could have been a bit more alert to utilize wrong stoppings whenever it happens”.

Regarding the final, he conceded he had to make minor structural change and also improve the communication between the players.

“These are the two key areas’ he said.

“We have to spread out, eliminate silly mistakes tomorrow”.

“Significantly, we have to use all our energies tomorrow”, he signed off.