KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s hockey head coach Arul Selvaraj believes his squad needs to improve when it comes to handling the defensive pressure displayed by lower-ranked teams at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Despite the Speedy Tigers’ fine run in their last two group matches, Arul expressed an expectation for his players to be more focused in their match against Indonesia tomorrow.
“I’m a coach who firmly believes in effectively managing my team, and to be honest, many aspects differ when we play against lower-ranked teams compared to higher-ranked ones.
“When facing lower-ranked teams, our movements are somewhat constrained, as these opponents tend to adopt a very defensive style of play.
“We have rectified this issue by incorporating an additional physical training session and ensuring that the players will be able to have more movements and workload during our match against Indonesia.
“Aside from that, I have also been pushing my players to give extra emphasis on the fundamentals of the game such as passing and receiving, and I want them to do it better and faster,” Arul said.
Arul also said that the team is well aware of the threats posed by higher-ranked teams like China and South Korea in their group, and aims to approach the remainder of the tournament one step at a time in their pursuit of the gold.
“We have a favorable record against both South Korea and China. We secured consecutive victories (1-0 and 6-2) against the Koreans and defeated China 5-0 in the Asian Champions Trophy.
“We are confident of repeating our winning record against these two teams, but the Asian Games is a different ball game.
“I have a feeling that South Korea will come back stronger to face us, and as the host nation, China will be prepared to put up a tough fight,” Arul added.
The Speedy Tigers are currently second in Pool B, trailing behind South Korea with a 19-goal difference.
They are expected to defeat Indonesia, ranked 60th, in their match at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park hockey stadium later today.
Indonesia is currently fifth in Pool B with zero points and 15 goals conceded in their last two games. – September 28, 2023