Hosts try to stay positive
After much soul searching following dismal performances in the first three matches of the Hero Asia Cup, the Bangladesh national hockey team are now focused on proving that they are not as bad as they have performed so far.
While defeats against India and Pakistan were apparently inevitable, a fighting performance was nonetheless expected from the charges of Mahbub Harun. But they failed to meet that expectation in front of home crowd and familiar conditions. However, the hosts did produce a bit of an improved performance against Japan in their last group match and all but held the opposition to a draw before loss of concentration in last two minutes saw them concede two goals and suffer third defeat in a row.
Despite having three months of training and playing six practice matches against a Chinese province side, Bangladesh are searching for their natural performance as the forwards could not hold the ball in the attacking third. They also made a lot of miss-passes in the midfield and made fumbles in defence. The players showed tendency of playing the ball backwards rather than taking the ball forward.
To shrug off such poor performances, team management and the players held a lot of discussions among themselves ahead of another big match against China tomorrow. The positives of Bangladesh's historic win over China in the inaugural Hockey World League (Round-2) in Delhi in 2013 were presented before the players in video analysis sessions to boost some confidence.
“After losing three matches, the players had a lot of talk among themselves. We are determined to do something better in the next two matches. A three-day rest before the China match is giving us an added advantage as we are rectifying the mistakes we made against Japan and watching the videos of our win against China in 2013,” left-back Farhad Ahmed Shitul said at the team hotel after returning from a practice session yesterday.
“The senior players have said that the opportunity has not been lost yet because our main target is the position-deciding matches. Chances are there to grab sixth or even fifth position and we want to ensure the sixth position by beating China,” said Shitul, who also believes Bangladesh's defence would be strengthened after the inclusion of under-21 team's centre-back Sabuj.
Shitul believes they could have drawn the Japan match had they held the ball a bit better in the dying moments.
“At 1-1, we thought it was possible to win the game and we went for attacks but could not come down timely in the dying moments,” said Shitul, who made his international debut during the 2013 Asia Cup.
Shitul however warned his teammates that if they continue to play the way they have done so far and make the same mistakes against China, then there is no possibility of repeating win from four years ago.
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