Times of India: No money in sight, national colours only motivation for Spain

LUCKNOW: With cash coffers drying up due to the economic crisis the country witnessed from 2008 to 2012, representing the national team remains the only motivation for Spain’s hockey players, says junior men’s team coach Roger Pallarols.

Once considered as an European powerhouse in hockey, Spain of late has been struggling to match the top hockey teams of the world and languishing at the ninth position in the world rankings.

Asked Spain’s U-21 coach the reason behind such a decline, he was candid enough to admit that all is not well in Spanish hockey.

“In last Olympics we finished fifth and we consider it as a very good result considering the financial condition of the country. If we compare us with other top teams of the world like Australia, Germany, Netherlands, India etc we are nowhere because the economy is Spain is not good. The Spanish economy is still recovering,” Pallarols said after Spain beat Japan 4-1 in their opening Pool C match of the Junior Hockey World Cup at the Major Dhyan Chand Astroturf Stadium here today.

“Spanish hockey doesn’t have any money and so we can’t ravel and participate in every international tournaments. That is the reality. The only motivation for a hockey player in Spain is to play for the national team and showcase their talent to the world,” added the coach.

The current situation, notwithstanding, Spain has a rich hockey history, having won three silver medals in Olympics (1980 Moscow, 1996 Atlanta and 2008 Beijing).

Besides Olympic medals, Spain are two-time silver medallist in World Cup (1971 Barcelona, 1998 Utrecht) and bronze winners in 2006 Monchengladbach event.

Spain are also two-time European champions (1974 Madrid, 2005 Lipzig) and have also won the prestigious Champions Trophy once (2004 Lahore) and finished runners-up twice (2008 Rotterdam, 2011 Auckland) while returning with the bronze medal thrice (1997 Adelaide, 2005 Chennai, 2006 Terrassa).

Talking about his team’s chances in the ongoing World Cup, the Spanish coach said their first target is to qualify for the quarterfinals, where they didn’t mind facing home team India who are rated as one of the pre-tournament favourites along with six-time champions and title holders Germany.

“India and Germany are the favourites. Both are really good teams. Germany are in our group and we play them next but we know how the Germans played as we have played them three weeks ago,” Pallarols said.

“India are in very good form. They recently won the four-nation tournament in Valencia. They also have home advantage but we don’t mind facing them in the quarterfinals if the situation demands,” he concluded.