The Indian group’s chief hockey coach Graham Reid, although completely satisfied along with his boys overcoming Olympic champions Argentina 4-Three within the opening follow match, was essential of the guests permitting the house group to claw again into the sport.
“We allowed Argentina to come back into the game particularly in the third quarter where they scored twice. When you play a strong team like them, we need to be consistent in all the quarters,” mentioned Reid forward of the second match on Wednesday in an interview for News18.
India will play a complete of six matches towards Argentina — 4 follow and two back-to-back FIH Pro League ties on April 11 and 12 — and defender Harmanpreet Singh has termed it as the very best for the Tokyo Olympics.
“Good win but there’s scope to be more consistent,” mentioned Reid after the match late on Tuesday. “It was a good practice match, intensely fought by both teams. It is always nice to come up with a win against a team like Olympic champions Argentina as it amplifies our confidence levels,” mentioned Reid of the Manpreet Singh-led group.
“We were able to create opportunities in the circle and also convert them. This was one of the areas we really put our minds to in the national camp back in SAI, Bengaluru.”
But had it not been for veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh’s efforts, particularly within the first quarter, issues might have grown to be robust for India.
Argentina made a powerful comeback within the third quarter, scoring two targets, by way of Leandro Tolini (32nd) and Maico Casella (42nd), and Reid mentioned that robust video games like these deliver out the perfect in a participant.
“Each match we play is a learning experience and I feel we have scope to do better. We look forward to good matches. These matches will help us when we take on the home team in the double header Pro League matches,” mentioned Reid.
