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The Indian team registered a 4-2 win against minnows Wales in their Pool D match on Thursday here at Kalinga Stadium to finish second in their pool behind England.
"Our team effort was excellent. We will work on the mistakes we made and we would not like to repeat them in the next match," said India hockey player Shamsher Singh while speaking to ANI. "All over if you see then it was a very good match we got a lot of chances in the first half. Somewhere we lagged behind in scoring," said India's vice-captain Amit Rohidas to ANI. India coming second in the pool means that they will have to play the crossover match against New Zealand on Sunday in order to qualify for the quarter-final. "Not topping the pool is not a disappointment. The team has put in a good effort. We just need to work on our finishing and we were playing to top the pool but again we need to work on our finishing," said Shamsher Singh. If India manages to put it across New Zealand then they are likely going to face defending and reigning Olympic champions Belgium or Germany in the quarter-final match as either of the two are going to top Pool C making the road to semi-final an uphill one for the hosts. "In World Cups matches are tough only. Cross-overs are tough and so are the quarterfinals," said Amit Rohidas. Shamsher Singh opened the scoring for India in the 22nd minute of the match and he was also playing his 50th international match. With confidence level high the Blue Sticks are ready to face any challenge coming their way."We are ready for any challenge coming our way," said Shamsher Singh. "There is hope because the crossovers that we will play we have chances of doing well," told vice-captain Amit Rohidas. India and New Zealand have off-late played some very close matches as the first match in FIH Pro League turned out to be a 4-3 win for India and the second one was a 7-4 triumph. The Blue Sticks also played the Kiwis in Olympic group stage where they ended up with a 3-2 win.(ANI)
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