Savita, the captain of India’s women’s hockey team, stated that while the pool matches did not go in the team’s favour in the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup, the fact that the team was still in the competition was all that mattered right now.

After finishing third in Pool B, India will face hosts Spain in a crossover match on Sunday for a spot in the quarterfinals.

On the eve of the do-or-die match, Savita said, “We knew the pool matches were going to be really tough. We fought hard and never gave up, but it’s just that the results haven’t been in our favour. However, we should quickly put it behind us, and focus on what’s next. We are still in contention and will give our everything to qualify for the quarterfinals.”

The Indian team played two thrilling draws against England (1-1) and China (1-1) before falling 3-4 to New Zealand in the tournament’s pool stage.

Deep Grace Ekka, India’s vice-captain, emphasised the importance of continuing to improve.

“I think we could have played a lot better in the three matches we played. We created many chances in the pool stage, especially in the last game, but our (penalty corner) conversion was not up to the mark. So, we certainly have to improve on our conversion, we have to be more clinical. At the end, it’s all about converting those opportunities,” she stated.

Spain finished the pool stage with two wins and one loss. They began their campaign with a 4-1 victory over Canada, but were defeated 1-4 by Argentina in their second match. They rebounded, however, with a 4-1 victory over South Korea to finish second in Pool C.

The last time India and Spain met was in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021/22, when both teams shared the title. India won the first match 2-1, while Spain won the second leg of the double-header 4-3 earlier this year in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

“Spain are a very good team and they are playing at their home so it will be a challenging match,” said Savita.

“However, we have played against them in the Pro League this year, so we are quite familiar with how they have been playing in recent times. But, the focus tomorrow will be on ourselves, on how we execute our plans. We will have to play our A-game against them for sure,” added Savita.

Ekka said the team will go into the game without putting too much pressure and their focus will be on playing good hockey.

“We have got a great opportunity to qualify for the quarterfinals and carry forward the momentum from there. However, we will go into the game without putting too much pressure. We just need to play to our strengths and just focus on playing good hockey because eventually, that will help us get the desired results,” said Ekka.

(Inputs from IANS)