BHUBANESWAR: Graham Reid, the chief coach of the Indian men's hockey team, lamented the squad's surprising 4-5 defeat to France in their opening match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's Junior World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday on his players' lack of basic skills and wasted opportunities.
Reid, who is the high-performance director for the junior team, said his team created enough opportunities but was unable to capitalise on them. India paid the price for allowing France to loose balls deep in their half, which the French players then put in the goal, according to him.
"It's difficult to expect a team to win if you give them five goals. I believed we would given ourselves enough chances. We made some simple errors, such as trapping, missing some overheads, hitting the post a couple of times, and one shot going across the goal "After the game, Reid said. "We need to put more pressure on the ball, which we haven't done. Having said that, kudos to France for their hard work and desire to win today. Our team was enthusiastic as well, and we did everything we could. However, things did not go as planned for us tonight "he said.
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