Xtra Time Web Desk: Indian men’s hockey team coach Graham Reid on Tuesday said, failure to capitalize on the 2-1 lead cost them the semi final match against world champions Belgium on Tuesday. Despite an inspiring fight Indian team was thrashed 5-2 by Belgium. Manpreet and his boys will now have to settle for the bronze medal match against the winner of Australia and Germany.
“We created enough opportunities to win that game. We knew Belgium was always going to come back, they are one of the best sides going around. We needed to build on our 2-1 lead, but we were not able to do that. We paid the price for it. Penalty corners worked for them today. Yeah, look, these days are much more switched on when the opposition has ten players and they took advantage of that. That can be the turning point, it is important to keep eleven players on the park,” Graham Reid said to the media persons after the match in Tokyo.
“Hockey is about gaining momentum and keeping that, maybe it was the green card. It is a momentum thing, we lost it and against opposition like Belgium, it is hard to come back once you lose momentum. To come third, you need to be the third-best team so we need to beat either Australia or Germany to win the bronze medal. We started already, I am already pushing the fact that it is a team-first mentality. My approach is to understand that being a team member, we need to get our head high and get ready for the bronze medal match,” he added.
India will lock horns in the bronze medal match on Thursday with the loser of the game between Australia and Germany.