MARGAO
Former national hockey team coach Clarence Lobo feels that the Indian men's team needs to overcome mental challenges to qualify for the semifinals at Tokyo Olympics.
“We know how difficult the group league matches have been for us in the past few editions. As a player, you have to be confident and face every challenge head-on in the Olympics,” Lobo told 'The Goan'.
The Dronacharya awardee further analysed the Indian team, which crashed to an embarrassing 1-7 defeat against Australia in their second group match.
“Too many turnovers mean losing the ball possession in midfield and it was the main problem because that made things easy for the Australians to counter-attack. So it was against three which is very difficult to defend,” Lobo observed. “Australia did not allow India to settle down and they were doing group tackling and putting pressure on the ball carrier. Australia has a very experienced team that made the difference,” added Lobo.
Lobo, who coached the Indian team at London Olympics in 2012, also maintained that India's passion for hockey remains strong and the national team will do their best to fulfil the expectations of the country.
“We are happy that people of India are following the sport with a lot of passion. They have great expectations of the Indian team and the players will try their best to make the people happy,” said Lobo, who hails from Tuem village.
Lobo said India will have to produce their 'A' game to get past Great Britain in the quarterfinals. “They should forget about the Australia match and focus on the positives to seal a spot in the semifinals. I wish them good luck and hope they do something special.”
