Scheduling debate after India’s Dutch test: Marijne questions back-to-back games, Ehren disagrees
Amstelveen, August 21 (PTI ) The tight scheduling at the FIH World Cup came under scrutiny after India’s 0-2 loss to the Netherlands in the second round with India coach Sjoerd Marijne pointing to the burden of playing on consecutive days, while Dutch coach Raoul Ehren felt modern hockey players are well equipped to handle such demands.
Amstelveen, August 21 (PTI ) The tight scheduling at the FIH World Cup came under scrutiny after India’s 0-2 loss to the Netherlands in the second round with India coach Sjoerd Marijne pointing to the burden of playing on consecutive days, while Dutch coach Raoul Ehren felt modern hockey players are well equipped to handle such demands.
India played England in their final pool match just a day before facing the Netherlands, while the Dutch side had a day’s rest before Friday’s contest.
“We had to play two back-to-back matches while the Netherlands had one day rest. I am not saying that we could have won if we had one day’s rest, but as you saw in the end, we made a lot of technical errors,” Marijne said after the match.
Marijne questioned whether such a schedule was ideal at a World Cup, drawing a comparison with football.
“Playing back-to-back matches, I don't know if you saw that in World Cup soccer. They don't play back-to-back matches,” he said.
Ehren, however, offered a contrasting view, insisting that the demands of the modern game make tight schedules manageable for top-level players.
“Everybody is so fit these days. We play four matches in five days in the Pro League. I don't think that it is a big issue,” the Dutch coach said.
Ehren also felt India showed no obvious signs of fatigue during the match.
“We saw how good they were today. I didn't see any fatigue in the Indian players,” he added. PTI MJ AM AM AM
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
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