Bhubaneswar : , Nov 25, 2015: The Indian team won 13-1 against Canada in their second clash at the FIH Junior hockey World Cup.However, the hosts are not done yet as they face a tough opponent in knockout stages. India is now second in the pool with one win and one loss.Poland was earlier defeated by France on goal difference.
India will face the Polish in their final league match on Saturday to determine the second spot in Pool A behind France, who won both of their games.
India would finish second in the Pool, which would mean that they will likely face top seed Belgium in the quarterfinals.
“Yes, that’s how losing the first game feels for us.We can’t do anything now.Graham Reid, head coach, said after Thursday’s match that if we want to win back-toback titles, we must beat every team.”But we won’t like to think ahead of ourselves, we have a match with Poland before that and that is what we will be considering.Reid said that we must win that match before we can think about the next stage.
He stated that France’s defeat was a learning moment for his team, as they realized the importance of being at their best in every match.
“It’s a learning experience for boys — every match can be considered one experience.This is what I have been telling my senior players.That’s our experience sofar,” Reid said, who steered India to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics earlier in the year.
Reid stated that the lack of international matches in the last year and a half was responsible for the lopsided tournament results on Thursday, with big wins by teams.
Due to the withdrawal of some top teams, weaker team have been replaced and they have proven even weaker because of disrupted preparations. He was happy that his boys were creating enough scoring chances, but they were unable to capitalize on them.
Reid stated that he enjoyed the problem of lots caused by the presence four penalty corner experts in junior squad, but he refused to comment on what junior team vice captain Sanjay must do to get into senior team.
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