ROURKELA: Led by Harmanpreet Singh, India are in a tough World Cup pool which comprises Spain, England and Wales. They start their campaign here against Spain on Friday before bracing for the England challenge.
Spain and England know what it is to make the final of the quadrennial extravaganza but haven't laid their hands on the silverware yet. In India's quest for their first World Cup in 47 years, the Europeans are a huge stumbling block. As hosts, India will have the crowd rooting for them, but the other teams are focused on blocking out the noise.
For Spanish head coach Max Caldas, it will be a question of being second time lucky, albeit in a different dugout. The 49-year-old Argentine was the coach of the Netherlands team in the previous edition of the World Cup in Bhubaneswar when they finished runners-up to Belgium. He knows a thing or two about Indian fans as Netherlands had put out India in the quarterfinals in 2018.
With a majority of hi s team playing their maiden World Cup, Caldas said, "Handling the crowd, I think, goes both ways. You can see them as a motivation or it can be a threat to be playing in front of a huge crowd. We see it as a motivation to play our best game in front of them. My belief is that these are things we cannot control, so just go out and enjoy it. That said, the focus is on ourselves, not the crowd."
England coach Paul Revington on Wednesday said that the emphasis is on the team's opening match against neighbours Wales and nothing else.
"This might be a horrible cliché, but as a coach, rather than getting ahead of ourselves and thinking about the other matches, the focus is on the first pool game. You have to keep an eye on the present, and our present is the first game on Friday. The initial momentum is important not just for us, but the other teams as well," he pointed out.
There is pressure on Harmanpreet, but trying to divert it: Coach Reid
NEW DELHI: India captain Harmanpreet Singh is one of the star attractions of the men's hockey World Cup starting Friday because of his sheer calibre of penalty-corner conversions, but the team's chief coach Graham Reid has worked upon plans to divert the attention from his key player.
Harmanpreet is currently regarded as one of the world's finest penalty-corner exponents. "I would be lying if I say that there isn't pressure on him (Harmanpreet). We have been spending a lot of time on our variations and making sure that we can deflect some of the pressure from Harman," Reid said.
