Brasa looks ahead for seventh place

M.S. Unnikrishnan

Tribune News Service

Chief coach Jose Brasa said it was certainly an upward movement for the Indian team that they would be fighting for the seventh-eighth position when they take on Argentina in the placement match of the 12th Hero Hondia FIH World Cup Hockey Championship at the National Stadium here tomorrow.

India had finished 12th in the 11th edition in Germany, and now they will be vyeing for a far better placing and Brasa does not want his team to suffer yet another defeat. “I will be sad if we lose to Argentina. If we finish seventh or eighth, we are improving”. He said it was his dream to see India through to the semi-final. That did not happen and the next best goal was the fifth position. That also eluded India. “To finish fifth would have been very good. And to finish 7-8 would be normal. Not very good, but it shows improvement”, he noted.

Brasa said he had made some changes in the seven months he had been at the helm of the national team.”We have improved. May be we can get better results”, he said, talking about the match against Argentina tomorrow. India had beaten Argentina in the Champions Challenge in their own back yard to win the bronze, and Brasa expects that his boys would play an encore. He said the team had played some tough matches, some difficult matches. “We have played open, attacking hockey. Our team will play well against Argentina”. He said he would not take Argentina lightly as they had got lots of goals and conceded lots of goals too.

Looking ahead at the Commonwealth Games and then the Asian Games, Brasa said the team preparation should revolve around playing matches. “We have to play important matches at the right time. Playing against Pakistan is good (Hockey India is planning a series against Pakistan). They are our neighbours, they have a good hockey level. They played well against Australia.”