India has psychological edge against Pakistan: coach

Sun, Oct 10 10 12:12 AM

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) After India humbled Scotland by a 4-0 margin, the hockey team''s chief coach Jose Brasa said today that his team has a psychological advantage over arch-rivals Pakistan for tomorrow''s do-or-die encounter in the Commonwealth Games event. "Our win against them (Pakistan) last time during World Cup on the same ground definitely gives us some confidence," Brasa said after the match at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here. The hosts had outplayed the Pakistanis 4-1 in a thrilling match in February in a World Cup tie at the same venue. The coach, however, said he was not very happy with his team''s performance today as his players could not convert all their chances. "I am not happy because we needed to score seven goals. But, we created opportunities to score those seven goals," the Spanaird said referring to the number of goals India needed to score in this match to better the greenshirts'' overall goal difference. Pakistan and India, both have outclassed Scotland and Malaysia in Pool A, and their defeat at the hands of World Champions Australia has left them with identical points in the group table. However, Pakistan now has the advantage of superior goal difference and in this high-voltage Indo-Pak encounter, the Rajpal-led side would have to emerge victorious if they are to play the semi-finals. "Of course we have to win tomorrow. Everything is in our hand," he added. On Pakistan goal-keeper Imran Shah''s brilliant display in the match against the Aussies, the coach said he just hoped the goalie does not have such a good day tomorrow. "May be he (Imran) isn''t in good form tomorrow," he said. The coach also acknowledged the change in the game plan of their opponents from across the border under their new foreign coach Michel van den Heuvel and said they will try their best to win. "They are taking up the European style of hockey and try to control the speed of the game. We will try to encounter that as best as we can," he added. Meanwhile, team captain Rajpal Singh said his team would try to improve its short-corner conversion in the next match. "We will try to improve on that," he said. The virtual quarter-final tomorrow between the two South-Asian giants is set to be a high-profile clash with the game already sold out.

Source: Published>