Roelant Oltmans defends misfiring strikers

Australia thrashed Canada 6-0, while Great Britain and Belgium played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in their final pool matches of the Hockey World League Final here on Tuesday evening.

Great Britain, who topped Pool A with nine points, thus set up a quarter-final clash with India on Wednesday, while Australia will face Olympic champions Germany.

The other last eight clashes will involve Belgium vs Argentina and Holland vs Canada.India’s forwardline might be facing a lot of flak for its poor show in the tournament, scoring just two goals in three games, but chief coach Roelant Oltmans on Tuesday defended his strikers saying they have been let down by the final pass.

India’s strike force of Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, S.V. Sunil, Talwinder Singh and Mohammed Amir have been a big disappointment in the tournament so far, wasting numerous scoring opportunities.

Out of the five chances, only Akashdeep hit a goal during the 1-1 draw against Olympic champions Germany. But Oltmans came in support of his attackline, putting the blame on the final delivery.“It is disappointing but like I said before, you just can’t blame the forwards. We also need to look at the kind of passes they received. Sometimes it looks like a forward is not picking up the ball, but the pass itself is terrible. Sometimes it’s a bumpy ball, the direction is not good, speed is not good and seems that the forward made the mistake,” Oltmans said here after India finished their pool stage at last position with just one point, courtesy the draw against Germany.

“I have said many a times that the passing style is not good. We need to improve our passing. In the end you want more out of your circle penetrations,” he explained.

Quarter-final lineup India vs Great Britain Holland vs Canada Australia vs Germany Beglium vs Argentina