India’s head coach P. R. Sreejesh pulled no punches after his team’s heavy 1-5 defeat to seven-time champion Germany in the FIH Men’s Junior World Cup semifinal on Sunday, calling the performance a result of poor execution and avoidable errors. Visibly disappointed, Sreejesh said the match slipped away because India repeatedly handed opportunities to its opponent.
“We didn’t play well, that’s it,” Sreejesh said bluntly after the loss. “We gave them easy opportunities, silly mistakes, conceded goals….” While India had a clear game plan for Germany, the coach emphasised that failure to execute it allowed the European powerhouse to dominate. “Winning and losing matter a lot; it doesn’t matter if you lose 1-0 or 10-0, it’s the same, but the problem is how we concede the goals. We need to focus on that first.”
Sreejesh criticised the team’s defensive structure and lack of discipline, noting that basic lapses were costly. “You need to defend well first, and then you need to attack and create opportunities. We were not converting our opportunities, giving them easy opportunities to score, and that made the difference,” he explained. One particular lapse frustrated him: “I told my players that they shouldn’t allow the opponents to get into the centre, but they allowed, and the Germans were able to create opportunities. That’s the one area I really felt bad about.”
The Blue Colts appeared overwhelmed from the start, struggling to cope with the intensity of the semifinal. Sreejesh acknowledged that the pressure of the occasion affected the players’ mindset. “Yes, mentality matters a lot in big games, and when you are committing silly mistakes, it puts you in a self-doubt mode. The pressure builds inside. This is a learning experience for them, and they will get better with it,” he said.
When asked whether India might have benefitted from adopting European tactics, Sreejesh firmly rejected the idea. He stressed that India’s strength lies in its own identity. “I just want my players to play our game; we can’t copy-paste European style. We Indians have our own flavour, and we just need to play our game. When you are playing their game, it’s quite easy for them to match up, but if we play our game, it’s going to be hard for them to match us. We forgot that.”
With a bronze-medal match against Argentina still to play, Sreejesh urged his young squad to shift focus quickly. “There is one more match left, which can help you to win at least one medal, and that is really important rather than crying about today’s match… going back empty-handed is more painful,” he concluded.
India now faces a test of resilience as it looks to salvage its Junior World Cup campaign.
