The national men’s junior hockey squad will have to come up with the best-laid plan, have wits, and hold their nerves in the remaining 12th Sultan of Johor Cup matches at the Johor Hockey Stadium in Taman Daya, Johor Bahru.
The Young Tigers will face another round of a thrilling encounter tomorrow when they go up against three-time champions India (8,30pm).
National Junior Team Manager, Ganesan Shanmugam, believes the Young Tigers had experienced a ‘bad day in the office’ in the second half of the match against Japan en route to a 1-4 defeat last Sunday.
“We started well in the first half and played some exciting hockey. Things got a little ‘off track’ in the second quarter due to their inexperience making unwarranted mistakes and Japan took advantage to score more goals,” he said.
He agreed that the team played much better against New Zealand in the first match last Saturday and were unfortunate to fall 2-3 to a late goal.
“These players have talent and are disciplined. The team management, including coaches, believe in them. We have been spending a lot of time together with the players. We have breakfast, lunch and dinner together and we always motivate them. What they need is support from hockey fans as they embark on a journey to qualify for the Junior World Cup next year,” he added.
The Young Tigers took the day off today and had a splashing time in the pool.
Reflecting on the Young Tigers’ performance in the last two matches, Juniors Head Coach, I. Vikneswaran, said the encounter against India will bring the best out of the players.
“We have to make a plan. India may be a team at the top at this moment but it does not mean that a team at the bottom will lose all matches. There are always opportunities and the players must take it from here to change that mindset. It is a learning curve,” said Vikneswaran.
“We had four penalty corners against Japan in one frame (back-to-back). If you look at it, we should have tucked it away. But things like this happen. We will have to continue working on our penalty corners. We also have to discard the unsavory habit of letting in goals after taking leads,” he commented.
He added that hockey is a team sport, and to get a team of players to move forward, you need synergy. And when that synergy is not at its best it affects the team.
“In the Junior Asia Cup, we need to be aggressive in our approach. That is why I said this situation of being in a challenging situation against a team like India is good for the players”
“I want them to play in such a pressure situation and learn how to handle it correctly. For example, we may be ranked higher than Bangladesh in the JAC but taking it easy against them may be a fatal mistake. What happened against Japan was a bitter pill to swallow,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ganesan stressed that the national juniors are playing in their first international tournament and their ultimate journey is the JAC which is just one month away from now in Oman. The JAC is the qualifying round for the 2025 World Cup in India.
“The SOJC is a platform to provide our players with exposure and experience against the top teams here. This is what the 2024 SOJC tournament is all about. All the Asian teams, Australia and New Zealand are here to give their players the same kind of exposure and experience as they are also gearing up for the JWC qualifiers,” said Ganesh.
Except for two or three national junior team players who featured for the senior Speedy Tigers in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, Nations Cup, Asian Champions Trophy in Inner Mongolia, and the tour of Europe, the rest of the Young Tigers trained at home.
“Not all of the national juniors went on a six-match tour of Australia two months ago. Let them grow and learn from this experience,” he said.
And what the Young Tigers don’t really need is to be mocked and ridiculed!
