India have so far been quite impressive in their 2023 Asian Hockey Champions Trophy campaign having won three of their four matches while drawing one. After a hard-fought win over South Korea, India captain Harmanpreet Singh has asked his team to stop conceding silly penalty corners and focus on the gameplan with a blockbuster clash against Pakistan next.
“It would definitely be a high-intensity tie. We need to be smart and focus on our actual gameplan and our responsibilities. We will stick to our original structure and try to finish better,” he told PTI after his team’s 3-2 victory over South Korea.
“It’s going to be a full-house. It was a near full-house yesterday (Sunday), which is a good sign for Indian hockey.”
While he is happy that his team is finding ways to score both through penalty corners as well as field strikes, there is still some work on the defensive front — mainly in terms of conceding penalty corners at crucial junctures.
“We have been scoring goals both through field and PCs. Also, ball possession was quite good, especially during the closing stages of the game.”
“We still need to work defensively and not give away silly PCs. We need to tackle better inside and do most of the tackling outside the box,” he added.
Considering the PC conversion debate, the Men in Blue earned four on Monday and converted a couple.
When asked about the inconsistency about the conversion rate, Harmanpreet ascertained that the opponents have improved defensively, which is a good thing for the sport.
“It is not just us, but with every team. And it’s mainly because they are defending well. If you look at our defence, we have Amit Rohidas and Jarmanpreet Singh, who have been doing a great job. Also, the opponents are doing the same thing, which is actually good,” he added.
Back to back games are taxing, admits coach Fulton
Head coach Craig Fulton has asserted that he and his side will be ready for the Pakistan challenge after sealing the semi-final berth.
Earlier on Monday, after the Pakistan beat China 2-1, head coach Muhammad Saqlain had warned that they were aware of India’s weaknesses.
In response, Fulton came up with a bold reply, “We’ll see on Wednesday night….”
Meanwhile, it was noteworthy that India has failed to come up with a compelling performance during the matches that have taken place on consecutive days.
Explaining the reason behind it, Fulton proclaimed that it is the case with every side, and that is how tournament hockey works, while there is no other option to it.
“It’s a hindrance for every team in the event, because if you check the scores of the team playing the next day, they have mostly been draws. Today (Monday) was a bit different, but yes, consecutive games are a bit harder to play,” he said after victory over defending champion Korea.
“Do you think we can win every game 5-0? If we did, we would have had the gold medal by now. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. It’s grind, and it’s tough. The momentum swings drastically in back-to-back games, and you gotta be able to manage all of it.”
“Tournaments like World Cups or Olympics cannot have a day’s gap in between. In Olympics, we play like nine game in 13 days. You need to do it and go through it. You have to; no other option,” he concluded.
With PTI Inputs
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