Last Update: January 22, 2023, 23:39 IST
Graham Reid (Hockey India Image)
Captain Harmanpreet Singh had a chance to seal the match in the first round of sudden death but he decided to take a direct hit from distance and wasted the golden opportunity.
India head coach Graham Reid on Sunday said the team needs a mental conditioning coach to make ends meet after their penalty shoot-out loss to New Zealand in a crossover match. World Cup here.
Reid’s comments could be an indication that his team were not able to deal with the mental aspect of the game as the home side once again dominated their crossover match but twice squandered a two-goal lead to end 3-3. Finished.
india vs new zealand hockey World cup match highlights
“We probably need to do something different. After that, we will work on how we can get the mental coach involved. I think he is an important part of the team’s future,” a distraught Reid said ahead of the match. said at the post-conference.
“As far as practice or training is concerned, we do what all other teams do. I have been in this game for a long time and I know what other teams are doing. The silver bullet is, I think (is) mentally.”
In the shootout, India And New Zealand were tied at 3-3 after five shots. Captain Harmanpreet Singh had a chance to seal the match in the first round of sudden death when Nick Woods of New Zealand missed the chance, but he decided to take a direct hit from distance and missed the golden opportunity.
Thereafter, Raj Kumar Pal and Sean Findlay both scored as the score was tied.
Sukhjeet and Hayden Phillips both missed out to keep the scoreline level. Shamsher Singh missed the end while Sam Lane sealed a 5-4 shootout victory for New Zealand and broke the hearts of a packed 15,000-strong crowd at the Kalinga Stadium.
FIH World Cup: India crash out after penalty shootout loss against New Zealand
When asked why she made such a shot at the crucial moment, Harmanpreet said, “It was a good opportunity and I wanted to score and seal the match. But it did not happen.”
Asked whether the captaincy put pressure on him and affected his performance, he said, “It is a team sport.” Everyone is talking about my (lack of) conversion in penalty corners. But I didn’t go to a match without scoring. I don’t feel any pressure. I have to work hard and the same goes for the team.” Reid said the team will have to go back to the drawing board and sort out the mistakes.
“Tonight, we lacked consistency. For example, in the last quarter, we let ourselves down. We threw the ball away, kept doing things like that, things like that made it very difficult for us.” .
“Every team has some issues at some stage or the other like converting circle penetration. We need to go back to the drawing board after a while,” he added.
“It’s very difficult to answer questions after a loss like this. It’s (lack of) skill execution at the end of the day, we need to work on that.” He declined to comment on whether the current squad was the best available for the World Cup.
“I am not commenting on players. We still have two matches to play (classification matches for 9th to 16th places). The Australian said the lack of penalty corner conversion against New Zealand was not the only issue.
“PC was a factor but not the only one. The problem tonight was that every time we won the ball we gave it back (to the opponents) and that happened a few times. But can’t do that.” Reid, whose term runs until the 2024 Olympics, showed no sign of quitting as he listed the matches to come.
“After these two classification matches, we have Pro League matches against Germany and Australia and then we have a Test series against Australia. But our focus is on the next match.” India will play Japan on January 26 in the classification match.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)