Hockey WC: Focused on improving counterattack, says SA coach Cheslyn Gie ahead of France clash

Rourkela (Odisha) [India], January 15 (ANI): The defeat to Argentina by a margin of 0-1 in their opening clash of the ongoing FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 hasn’t affected the confidence and belief in the squad and the team will aim for a good outing against France in the next match.

Reflecting on the defeat to Argentina, the head coach of the South African team, Cheslyn Gie, said they were working on improving their play in the next match. “The positive from the game against Argentina is that we competed really well and fought till the end.

Our team can definitely improve in a lot of things, especially the way we counterattack. The players can also improve their pressing during the match. We have seen a lot of videos of our previous match and are working on rectifying our mistakes,” said Gie.

Gie added that his players have the quality and belief to script a comeback and register a win against France in their next clash.

He said, “We will be concentrating on staying in the game for a longer period of time. France are a good side and we played against them in the Nations Cup which was a great experience for us. We had played well in that game and will look to do things even better this time in an important match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela.”

“France have a good mixture of new and experienced players, so, I think it will be a different contest than the Nations Cup,” the French head coach added.

Meanwhile, Dayaan Cassiem, the captain of the South Africa Men’s Hockey Team, lauded the facilities for hockey in Odisha, saying, “The facilities here are amazing. We all know that India is a hockey nation which makes all the experiences really special for us as a hockey team. I hope that we get to play many more tournaments here in Odisha in the future.”