Indian hockey skipper, Harjeet Singh was on the top of his game in the fixture against England, leading the pack from the front and helped clinch an important 5-3 victory at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday in the Pool D encounter of the Junior Hockey World Cup.
But the soft-spoken and humble captain, credited the win to his entire team, and stressed on the fact that the home team played “simple hockey” which gave them the positive result.
As for himself, Harjeet was pretty impressive and played like an anchor in midfield, snatching balls from the opposition, aiding the Indian strikers when it came to counter-attacks, eventually helping India to seal their berth for the quarter-finals.
Team played simple hockey, says Indian captain
"We played simple hockey today. We just did simple, simple things. We have to play according to the opposition. England is a good team so we raised our bar," Harjeet said at the post-match press conference.
"Today from the beginning we had good energy. All the players performed their duties on the field. After scoring the first goal we kept on putting pressure on them (England) by scoring more goals. Jaise coach sir humesha kehte hain ke murde ko itne keel gardo ke who aur uthne hi nahi paye (as the coach always says, when a coffin is buried, add nails so that there is no possibility of him getting up from the grave)," he said.
We were under no pressure after conceding, says Harjeet
India overcame a jittery start after they conceded an early goal to the visitors in the 10th minute but Harjeet said there was no pressure on the team after giving away the opening goal.
"We didn't have any pressure after conceding the first goal because we were confident. We knew there was plenty of time left and in hockey 2-3 minutes is big," he said.
Must cut down unnecessary fouls, says Indian coach
India’s head coach Harendra Singh seemed to be content about the team’s display on the field but warned them to keep their emotions in check while playing. India were leading 5-1 at one stage, but earned themselves two yellow and two green cards in the last ten minutes of the match and gave away two unnecessary goals to England.
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"They are playing a World Cup and you have to accept it that there will be anxiety which was there in the first 20 minutes of the opening match (against Canada). You have to accept that they are youngsters who wait 4 years for a big tournament so excitement will always be there," Singh said.
"The fouls were unnecessary. We need to control our emotions. Better that it has happened here but we can't afford such mistakes in the knockout stage," he further added.
Team is improving by the day
The coach, however, was of the opinion that the team executed a good performance on the day.
"We took a very important step today in terms of tactics as well as technique. We scored field goals, tried variations in penalty corners, counter-attacked. Day by day improvement is evidently visible. I would like to congratulate the entire team," the coach said.
