By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : Chief coach Joaquim Carvalho, while admitting to errors in the deep defence, said he was quite satisfied with India’s performance despite the 4-4 draw with Belgium after leading by three goals in the first hockey Test here Friday night.
“Overall, our performance was good, but our deep defence was rather slack today. There were mistakes that should not have been made at this level. A few individual players were sloppy at the back and also in the midfield,” Carvalho said.
He opined that India should have scored more than just four goals. “We missed too many chances today and so, despite dominating the match, we ended up with a draw. Belgium were mostly dependent on the long balls and deflections that we should have intercepted, but did not,” Carvalho told IANS.
Carvalho said he used the match to carry out different strategies and combinations. “Obviously, we did not have a settled look about our team since I was trying out some variations like having some of our boys playing in different positions,” he said.
Regarding the positives from the match, Carvalho said: “I think we needed this kind of game especially against an European team. Our ball rotation and moves were pretty good tonight though I admit there is lot of scope for improvement.”
On the draw, the coach said he was not unduly concerned about the result. “Our focus is on the qualifying tournament in Santiago, Chile, and these matches are part of our preparations as our immediate goal is to qualify for the Beijing Olympics,” he pointed out.