Pakistan’s Hockey Team Manager Khawaja Junaid optimistic despite opening defeat
Regardless of the opening defeat to France by 4-2, Khawaja Muhammad Junaid, the Manager of the Pakistan’s hockey team, is quite optimistic about the forthcoming fixtures in the Four-Nations Cup that is underway in Dublin, Ireland.
In his views, the ongoing Europe Tour will definitely assist the Greenshirts to hone their skills and overcome weaknesses ahead of the mega events, including the 2011 Champions Trophy and the 2012 London Olympics.
It is vital to mention here that the Pakistan’s hockey team lost its first game in the hands of France by two goals, 4-2.
Pakistan and France opened the game quite professionally, but it was the latter who established their dominance on the field. They showed brilliant skills in the head of passes, attacks and as well the defensive point of view. They not only scored
a couple of goals in the first half of play, but also denied several efforts from the Pakistan’s side. The opening half concluded with France sitting on top by a couple of goals, 2-0.
In the second half of play, the French team started the game with the same formation and carried out plenty of attacks against the Greenshirts. At the start of the second period, the French squad further expanded their lead up to three goals. Though
the Greenshirts came into action after conceding three notches, they could only score a single goal. In the waning moments of the second half of play, both teams conceded one goal each and closed out the game with France coming out victorious at 4-2.
The Manager of the team while speaking to the media said that the Greenshirts would overcome their weak areas after playing games at the foreign venues. To get familiar with the European pitches will really help the Pakistani team ahead of the London
Games, he added. He expressed satisfaction over the failures in the event-opening game saying that they are quite optimistic for the next fixtures.
He stated, “I am satisfied with team’s performance in the opener of the Four-Nation Hockey Event at Dublin (Ireland). Though the team had a bad start yet we are hopeful and expecting great performances from the team in the upcoming fixtures. We are
working hard on team and trying our best to prepare them for handling pressure to enable Pakistan to score victories against world strong teams.”
Khawaja Junaid was of the opinion that the entire tour would be examined in order to overcome the weak areas. The Four-Nations surely augment the courage of Pakistani players for the upcoming mega events, he maintained. Pakistan will face China on
June 22, 2011 in the next fixture of the Berlin’s Four-Nations Cup.
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