"Plans in place for FIH Junior World Cup SF against Germany," says coach CR Kumar after boys' fairytale win against the Netherlands
The Indian junior men's hockey team will take on Germany in the semifinals of the FIH Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
Coach CR Kumar is confident of his team's chances despite the 3-6 defeat that the boys suffered at the hands of the Germans at the Sultan of Johor Cup earlier this year.
Kumar also emphasised that the Indians who had rested a few top strikers for the Sultan of Johor Cup are now a full-strength team who are capable of executing the plans that have been put in place to counter the Germans.
"We have played many games against the German team as compared to other European sides. We now have a lot of experience in this regard. All the tournaments we played against them are different from the FIH Junior World Cup," CR Kumar told Sportskeeda.
"The plans are in place (for the FIH World Cup semifinal against Germany) and we need to execute them very systematically and clinically, and then the result will be ours. We are telling the players exactly what the plan is and telling them to stick to the plan and go ahead," he added.
CR Kumar stressed that the present team is more than capable of executing plans to outdo the Germans in the semifinal of the FIH Junior World Cup.
"The key forwards were rested for the Sultan of Johor Cup and were training in Bangalore. That made a lot of difference to the final result. Here, we are at full strength, so we can execute all our plans," the coach explained.
The Indians advanced to the semifinals with a 4-3 win over the Netherlands on December 12. Kumar's chargers made a fairytale comeback to beat the Dutch 4-3 after trailing 0-2 at half-time.
A magnificent short corner goal from captain Uttam Singh sealed the deal for the Indians in the 57th minute. Captain Uttam Singh dwelt at length on how the brilliant setpiece goal came about.
"We had practised the setpiece during training and also during practice matches. With two minutes left before the end of regulation time, we felt it was the right time to use the penalty corner routine," Uttam Singh said.
"No match is lost until the game is over" - Captain Uttam Singh on team's epic comeback in FIH Junior World Cup quarterfinals
Trailing by a couple of goals in an FIH Junior World Cup quarterfinal can be a daunting prospect for the best of teams. Yet, the Indians not only restored parity against the Netherlands after the breather but also maintained their composure at the death to register a memorable victory.
Captain Uttam Singh shed light on how the team approached the game in the second half.
"We were a lot more defensive in the first half and the thought uppermost in our minds post the break was to go all out to secure a win in the knockout game," he said.
"I tell the boys that no match is lost until the game is over," Uttam Singh stated.
Coach Kumar also revealed that he had kept an eye on how the Dutch had been shaping up in the FIH Junior World Cup tournament and took his chances based on his observations.
"We know quite well that the Europeans try to dominate in the first two quarters while also exerting lot of pressure in this period before slowly fading away in the third and fourth quarters," CR Kumar stated.
"We have been watching all the teams participating in the tournament continuously. We took a chance and knew pretty well that if we defended in the first two quarters, we could go all out to score against them in the third and fourth quarters," the veteran coach from Thanjavur added.
India will take on Germany in the semifinals of the FIH Junior World Cup on Thursday, December 14.