Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne was impressed with the Indian women’s hockey team’s performance as they recently defeated hosts New Zealand 2-0 to win the Nations Cup in Auckland. They also sealed qualification for the Women’s FIH Pro League, but the head coach feels his side needs to improve their conversion rate, noting they didn’t score many field goals during the tournament.
Key Factors
In his first stint, he led them to a fourth-placed finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In the quarters, they shocked Australia with a 1-0 victory and then lost to Argentina (1-2) in the semifinals. In the bronze medal match, they fell to Great Britain, losing 3-4. He returned to the fold on January 2 this year, following the departure of Harendra Singh.
India were in hot form during the tournament, defeating USA, Japan and Uruguay in the pool stage, before easing past Chile in the semifinal. “I think if I watch this tournament, it’s mainly converting the chances into goals. We create enough opportunities every match, but we don’t make enough field goals. That’s something we need to keep working on. But I am very happy, especially the way we played in the semis and the final. Of course, in the semis we scored a lot of goals, but in a final, it’s never easy. We had a few big opportunities, but we were still able to score two goals. But we hardly got anything against us. That is our game, defensively we are very structured, very strong. This is Marijne’s second stint as the head coach of the Indian women’s hockey team. After India’s defeat, Marijne also stepped down as head coach.
Before the hockey tournament began in Tokyo, the Indians were not even serious contenders, but then they proved their doubters wrong by reaching the semifinals for the first time.
