No planning can help if the players don’t perform

I had said earlier that we will try to avoid giving too many open chances in the middle for the opposition to score, and we managed to do that. As a result, we were on top from the very beginning, and a lead in the second minute itself was a big boost. We also had more shots at goal and more chances to score as compared to our previous game against Pakistan. And also, as compared to what Pakistan got today.

As a coach, I saw my boys playing in good colours despite the result. But as I always say, missing and winning never go together. And in a major tournament like this, you cannot afford to miss even half chances, leave alone open scoring shots. As far as penalty corners are concerned, we got five of them, converted two, messed up two because of faulty trapping, and hit one wide. So, in effect, our conversion rate was pretty good. But failing to trap and hitting wide are basic mistakes, which can’t be repeated. I really cannot understand how the boys could fail to stop the hit-in during a penalty corner. Even towards the fag end of the match, with a few seconds remaining, we got a penalty corner but could not score.

These are the things that I say we need to work on.

This match has proved once again that the result of planning minus players is always zero. There is only so much that can be done in terms of planning off-the-field. The players have to do the rest themselves. Even the greatest coach in the world can’t do anything once the game starts.

Summing up, I would say that apart from the first match against Spain, all the rest were closely fought. And Spain, with their final win, have proved that they are a class side. And the form of perfect hockey that they play will definitely sound warning bells for the rest of the teams in the years to come.