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Raipur, November 28
India’s chief coach Roelant Oltmans was a proud man after his side played out a 1-1 draw against Germany today, especially after the disappointing 0-3 loss to Argentina in the opening match of the Hockey World League Final.
India produced a lacklustre performance against Argentina yesterday but dished out a much-improved showing to hold the European giants to a draw and a proud Oltmans said it was the result of team effort.
“We discussed what happened yesterday and we made amends for that today. The team showed a lot of energy which we were lacking yesterday. We made less unforced errors than yesterday, especially at the start of the game. The team stuck to its gameplan till the last minute today,” the Dutchman said.
“Sometimes you need small results like these to show that this is the way we have to work. I am proud in the manner they recovered after yesterday’s disappointing game. We kept fighting to score a goal. We had more chances. I said yesterday that one defeat is not a disaster.”
“Yesterday, we didn’t look like a team and I told them that in the team meeting. But today we were one team and that displayed in our game,” he said.
“Of course, we had plenty of chances but at the same time Germany is known as one of the best defending teams in the world. You can see the way they stay calm to overcome difficult situations and that is their strength. But the good thing is we created chances; yesterday we didn’t and that is the big difference,” he said.
“Manpreet from the first minute showed the desire of the team today,” he said.
SV Sunil missed today’s game due to a knee injury suffered in the last match but the coach hoped the striker would recover before the knock-out phase. — PTI