After winning their opening fixture against Spain, the Indian Men’s Hockey team failed to find a way past England and had to settle for a 0-0 draw in their second pool D clash at the FIH Hockey World Cup. Both teams had plenty of chances but none of them could find the opening as the goalkeepers were fanatics in a packed Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela.
India conceded eight penalty corners out of which four of them were conceded in the first half itself but fortunately none of them were converted by the English drag flickers. But Indian head coach Graham Reid cannot simply overlook this aspect as stronger teams will take advantage of these opportunities.
“We played fast hockey today but it was concerning as well giving away short corners. A good thing is that none of them got converted which is a good sign,” Reid stated after the game.
Whilehe was hap[py to see the fight and commitment of the Indians who gave their all to win even in the dying moments, Reid wants improvement on plays inside the circle as they have to be more decisive and more clinical to find the net on demand.
“Both teams will have the same feeling as we pretty much had the same number of goal-scoring opportunities. The play inside the circle needs to improve with lots of missed opportunities but the fight and commitment shown till the end were great to watch,” the Australian tactician pointed out.
Reid was very annoyed with how the team played in the first quarter as India’s midfield was all over the place and they lacked pace in attack. England simply dominated the midfield but just like the hosts, England also struggled with their finish. Hence Reid was not happy with how his team started the match and will look to improve in that aspect.
“We didn’t start the game well and were lacking pace at the start. We missed a few connections but to England’s credit, they forced us to play that way. Also, it is hard to assess the player’s performance straight after the game but will have to go through the videos and assess them. We did not receive the ball properly in the first quarter and the choices of shots and execution too weren’t good at times,” he concluded.
India will be travelling to the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar for their last pool D game against Wales on 19th January. It will be the last game of the day and they will be aware of the goal required to top Pool D as England will face Spain on the same day just before the hosts take the field. For now England are at the top with a goal difference of five and India are in second position with a goal difference of two. The topper of the pool will directly qualify for the quarterfinals whereas the second and third placed teams will have to play the crossovers.
