It has been a tough away leg for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team as they have lost consecutive matches against Belgium and the hosts Great Britain. But the team’s morale is still high as they look to improve in the upcoming games.
India are all set to face Belgium and table toppers Great Britain for another round of matches in the Hockey Pro League. Speaking on the defeats, Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh is confident that this team can again fight their way back to the top of the table. He feels that those two defeats are not playing on their minds anymore as they are focused on maintaining the shape and producing good finishes.
“We are not letting the two losses last week play on our minds. We still have six more matches to play and we know that if we play to the structure and execute good finishes, we will be able to return to the top of the pool table,” he stated.
The Men in Blue lost 2-1 against Belgium in the first match played last week. It was a hard-fought encounter and anyone of the teams could have won that much but India ended up on the losing side. Following that, India went down 4-2 against Great Britain which was a heavy blow for Harmanpreet and his men. Although the results were not expected, there were plenty of takeaways from the game.
Harmanpreet shared how the two teams played in different styles and it confused the Indian team. He highlighted how the defense must improve and also the focus should be on finishing the chances that come their way.
“Both opponents play very different styles. While one (Belgium) plays zonal, the other (GB) plays man-to-man. But there were some takeaways from those two matches. Though we didn’t create that many field goals, we did get some good PCs. There are some areas we also worked on, in these past few days and the focus will continue to be on defending well,” the captain opined.
India will need time to settle after the shocking result at the World Cup at home and then the change in coach. The new coach, Craig Fulton will need time to understand the team and will gradually implement his ideas. However, it is a big year for Indian Hockey and the Men in Blue cannot afford to put a wrong step.
Indian vice-captain Hardik Singh believes that there was a gap in play after their Rourkela matches and that has not helped the youngsters, who have taken their time to settle at this level. “I think after the Rourkela matches, there was a bit of a gap to play highly competitive matches. It will take some time particularly for the youngsters to settle in and make the right connections to score goals,” Hardik shared.
He feels that this is a big step up for the youngsters but he believes that they will work on the positives from the first two matches and get better in the upcoming games. “This is a big platform for youngsters like Sukhjeet, Karthi and even Abhishek who are playing in London for the first time and Sanjay also made a good debut. There are a lot of positives from the first two matches here which they will be working on to carry forward in the upcoming matches,” he concluded.
The upcoming matches against Belgium and Great Britain will be the biggest test for the Indian Men’s hockey team in the Pro League.
