After a successful tour to Belgium, in which India men’s hockey team won all their five games against the hosts and Spain, coach Graham Reid is completely focused on the bigger challenges knocking on the doors. In less than a month, India will face Russia in the Olympic qualifiers in Bhubaneswar, and Reid believes the tour was a good morale-booster for his young side.
“I think it was really good for our guys to understand if we play our best, we can beat any team in the world. So it was morale-boosting, and that’s very important,” the Australian told Hindustan Times in an exclusive chat after reaching India. But he added that the team still needs to work towards improving.
“There is also a part of me that needs to remind them that we have a job to do in November, this is a great step, and we need to use them to build on and keep getting better,” he said.
Despite India defeating Belgium 5-1, 2-1 and 5-1 in the three games during the tour, the skeptical ones will point out that the World Champions were not playing all the members of their first-choice team. But Reid feels that the competition was tough, considering the massive depth of squad in the Red Lions’ possession.
“What I have learnt in last 10 years is that Belgium have a huge depth of the squad, much like Australia, Netherlands and Germany. They have some very good players who are at the next level, trying to get into the team. Belgium played 5-6 World Cup players and the rest were from junior 20-23 age group, and they are the ones who are trying to impress. It was a really good competition, I enjoyed it and our players got a lot out of it. I was pleased about the attitude in which we approached our games,” he says.
So what positives can India take from the Belgium tour? “The positives I got from the tour is I saw all what we have been working on. We’ve been doing a lot of work to get consistency in our performances, and in the way we operate. That’s what we saw during this tour. Each performance was built on the previous game, and it’s important for me because it shows that we are learning and doing things in a smart way,” the coach added.
The Russia challenge
After India drew against Russia for the Olympics qualifier, many pegged it as an easy challenge for the World No 5. Russia are placed at the 22nd place in the World Rankings, and have never qualified for Olympics in the past. The last time the two teams met in June, India defeated the opponents 10-0. But Reid insists he will not get complacent before the all-important fixture.
“No opponent is easy when they are forced into a corner. That’s what these games are all about. Everyone will be playing for Olympic qualification. No chain is easy. We definitely will not fall into the trap of being complacent. We will be fighting hard to ensure that we prepare as best as we can, and that we play our best,” he said.
“A number of things have changed since June. They have had more chance to play with each other. Last time it was 39 degrees. This time, the weather will be more favourable to them. They have our videos, we have theirs. We will be staring at them earnestly and ensure that we can be as best prepared as we can,” he added.
Reid the right man for the job?
It has not been long since Reid took over the coach’s role. He was appointed in the position in April. In his short time, he has provided a glimmer of hope for Indian fans with a good performance in Olympic Test event in Tokyo, followed by a successful Belgium tour.
“When you are close to something, like I have been with this team for last 4-5 months, it is hard to see the changes because you see them everyday. What I’ve tried to instill in this team is consistency in performance. I have also tried to provide a stable message that we have to work hard, and keep improving, and I hope you start to see some of those results,” he gave an analysis on his term so far.
India coach Graham Reid.
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Frank Uijlenbroek/Hockey India
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An aspect which has impressed Reid is the team’s growth in penalty corners. In Belgium, dragflicker Harmanpreet Singh starred for the side, scoring five goals from set-pieces. Speaking on the same, the coach said: “The penalty corners are always something we are working on. In the first game against Belgium, we converted zero from five attempts. Afterwards, we had really had good success,” he said.
“It is a lot harder to score from the corner than it was three years ago. I was pleased with those last four games from the point of PC attack and also our PC defense. In the last game against Belgium, they had their both world class flickers and we saved four out of five,” he said.
Anyone who has followed India hockey must have been frustrated on a number of occasions with India losing close matches after conceding late goals. Two months ago, India went down 2-1 to New Zealand in the 2nd match of the Olympic Test event, in a similar fashion. But the Indian coach believes that such instances will help the team grow.
“I don’t think its only India who suffers from conceding late goals. It’s part of the game now. Every team must have suffered the same fate at some point. We are lucky that we had the experience of losing 2-1 to New Zealand in Tokyo. For me, it’s a great learning opportunity,” he said.
He further elaborated: “In our last camp, we went through those two games in details, and our players thought about how we can stop those moments. Those our the decisions which are very important. Of course, you cannot completely stop it from happening again.”
First Published:
Oct 05, 2019 12:31 IST
Source: HindustanTimes