FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 | The Indian Men's hockey team on Friday began the World Cup 2023 in style as they defeated the Spanish side by 2-0 in Rourkela. Indian defender Amit Rohidas put the hosts on the scoring sheets with his 12th-minute penalty corner goal, before midfielder Hardik Singh doubled India's lead with a 26th minute on field strike. The Indian team is on the second spot in Pool D and the Indian coach Graham Reid is pleased with the effort of his team.
Speaking at the post-match press conference at the night, coach Reid said that it was good to start with the win and that the team need to continue the process to stand a chance to lift the title. "The boys were able to take the ball out of the goal. It was a good start. It is good to get the first game and it is done now and we will now focus on the next game. What is pleasing today is one the defensive effort and the second we handle the ball very well. There were not too many people who did not play well. That is what you need to win a World Cup. We need to continue it in the next game," Reid said after the match.
The Indian team was left with 10 men on the field for 10 minutes as Abhishek was handed a suspension in the final quarter. Reid also put light on the fact that the team has practised with 10 men on the field. "We did the practice of playing with 10 men as we thought at some point in the tournament we are going to play with 10 men. It was good. We got in front a lot today and that was very important. We were first with the ball and that makes a lot of difference in these sorts of games," Reid added.
The coach also stated the need to keep backing the players. "The great teams in the world make decisions on the pitch and that I think that is what ends up happening with me as a coach. It is like you are putting your kids out and letting them run and make mistakes and we are going to fix them later. But they also need to take their responsibility. Harmanpreet (Singh) made a nice speech before during the shirt presentation and part of that is we have to cannon balls, each of us and we showed a bit of it today. We just need to keep building on that," Reaid said.
The Indian team is set to face England in their second pool game on 15th January, Sunday. England are the current table toppers as they thrashed the Wales side by 5-0 in their opening encounter on Friday.
(Inputs from PTI)
