Reid said that he will not start with a big win against Wales
India will need to beat Wales by a huge margin to directly qualify for the quarter-finals of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup, but the hosts will not start the contest with that mindset and play their natural game, chief coach Graham Reid on Wednesday said. India are second in Pool D with four points from two matches and will take on Wales in their last league match here on Thursday.
England team topped the pool thanks to better goal difference. India and England have four points after two matches. England team is ahead of India on the basis of goal difference. Its goal difference is plus five while the home team has plus three points. India, however, have the advantage of knowing what to do in their last Pool D match as they will face Spain and England. Reid said in the press conference held on the eve of the match, “It is good to know (what to do before the match) but we will not go into it thinking about it from the beginning. It would be dangerous to do so. ,
“We will play our natural game, we will keep it simple and stay calm. We can accelerate from then on. India have scored only two goals in two matches, when asked about the dearth of goals, Reid said, “There is no specific reason behind it. I used to worry when we weren’t creating chances. “He said,” But we are creating chances. Just lack of ‘finishing’. We are hoping that this will also happen. ,
The Australian, however, declined to share details about the MRI report on midfielder Hardik Singh, who was injured during Sunday’s goalless draw against England, leaving him doubtful for the Wales game. Reid said, “Her MRI report was much better than what we thought. We are expecting that he will play in the tournament. Asked whether he would select only 17 players in the team instead of 18, he said, “We will decide tomorrow.” ,
When captain Harmanpreet Singh was asked about his thoughts on changing the penalty corner hit rule, he said, “I think it would be good if penalty corner defenders would have more time. “He said,” This will not affect the penalty corner rate much as it depends on the timing of the drag-flicker.
