Having eked out an unconvincing 3-2 win over France in their campaign opener, the Indian men’s side will have to quickly pull up their socks, especially at the defence, when they take on lower-ranked Poland in their second group match of the Hockey World league Semi-finals here on Tuesday.India needed a last-gasp goal to emerge victorious in their first match on Saturday as their defence struggled and the Frenchmen exploited the gaps to launch several attacks. The Sardar Singh-led side will have to produce an improved show tomorrow if they want to maintain a winning momentum.Poland are ranked 17 in the world, eight spots behind India, but they have the potential to pull off a surprise win and India can take them lightly to their peril. like France, the Polish also have some speedy strikers who can mount brisk counters, as they displayed against Pakistan, and the Indian defence will have to make amends of their erratic show in the opening match.
Captain Sardar Singh was fully aware that his side cannot lower their guard against Poland on Tuesday.“You cannot take any rival likely. The world rankings do not matter when you step into the field,” said Sardar, hoping the young members of his team would have gained by the experience against France as newcomer Devinder Walmiki scored an opportunistic goal.India were though handicapped to some an extent by the absence of their two drag-flickers VR Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh.Raghunath was one of the three players dropped from the squad due to injuries suffered in the training camp ahead of this tournament. Rupinder, who was to be rested from this event, came in as a replacement for Raghunath, but did not play the opening match due to an injury sustained in the warm-up matches leading upto the tournament.
“We may have already qualified for the Olympics, but we certainly want to perform well going into the World league Finals that India will host later in the year. We want to do well here as much at any other team,” he said.India’s chief coach Van Ass is hopeful that the Indian defence will put up a much-improved show compared to the match against France, who repeatedly managed to cause problems through penetrative bursts.Trying to impart new strategies to his wards, including some juniors, Van Ass is expected to again use this outing for some more experiments ahead of the tougher encounters against subcontinental hockey rivals Pakistan and reigning World champions Australia.
eves must learn to value possession against NZ: coachIndian women’s hockey coach Mathias Ahrens on Monday said that the team should not only maximise its ball possession but also convert it into goals when they take on New Zealand in a pool match of the World league Semi-finals here on Tuesday.
India, who suffered a 0-1 loss to hosts Belgium in their first Group B outing, have a lot at stake and only an improved show can revive their chances of qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olympics. “We must value the possession after working hard to earn it,” said Ahrens. It would be an uphill task for India against world No. 4 New Zealand, who started this tournament with a 12-0 thumping of Poland on Saturday. The Black Sticks had prevailed 4-1 over India in their last encounter also during the recent Hawke’s Bay Cup in New Zealand.