As India reclaimed the bronze medal at the Hockey World League Final after defeating Germany 2-1 on Sunday, India coach Sjoerd Marijne heaped praise on his boys and promised an improved show in future tournaments.
“I am happy with the win because matches like these are not easy. Because it all (11 vs 18) plays in the head. The most important thing is mentality with which we won the match. Of course, we can improve,” Marijne said at the post-match press conference.
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Germany played with only 11 players in the third-place play-off game, including reserve goalkeeper Appel, who scored for the visitors in the 36th minute.
The 43-year-old Dutch was of the opinion that even though the German side lost the bronze-medal play-off match, they surprised the home team with their “structured” system.
“It was a great performance from Germany and the goalkeeper (Mark Appel, who scored Germany’s goal). They fought really hard. We wanted to score early. The way they played, it was not a system we are used to. The players were a little bit scared to lose the ball,” Marijne added.
The coach, however, felt there were many lessons to learn from the tournament for the Indians.
“The most important thing is consistency. That’s the thing we need to work on. We played at the highest level. Now I know what happens mentally, now I know what we need to change. We will take our time for that. We have to learn our lessons,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)