The Indian men’s hockey team were stunned by New Zealand in a must-win crossover tie at the World Cup happening in Orissa on Sunday. The visitors eked a 5-4 victory in the penalty shootout after both the sides scored three goals each at the end of regulation time. The defeat saw India crash out of the tournament as New Zealand advanced to the knockout stages, where they will meet Australia in the quarterfinals.
Reflecting on the loss, India coach Graham Reid said that the team requires a mental conditioning coach. The hosts had a two-goal cushion, which they squandered on two instances, before New Zealand came from behind and equalised in the final quarter.
“We need to do something different perhaps. Following this, we will work on how we can get a mental coach involved. I think that is an important part for the future of the team,” Reid said at the post match conference.
“As far as the drills or training are 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. If there is anything necessary, a silver bullet out there, I do think that (is) mentally.”
Reid further said that the team now needs to go back to the drawing board and sort out the mistakes. “Tonight, we lacked consistency. In the last quarter, for example, we let ourselves down. We threw the ball away, kept doing stuff like that, Things like that made it very difficult for ourselves.
“Every team has at some stage had certain issues like converting circle penetration. We need to go back to the drawing board a little bit later,” he said.
“It is very hard to answer questions after such a loss. It is (lack of) skill execution at the end of the day, We need to work on that.”
