CANNOCK, June 6: Pakistan hockey coach Roelant Oltmans said on Sunday that a win against Australia would give the team much-needed confidence and added he did not believe in stars in the team.
He said he fielded Tariq Aziz which paid dividends and added he did not believe in stars in the team. "It's team play which counts in the end," he said. "Australians are a higher ranking team and this kind of win will help the team to improve before Olympics," Oltmans said after the victory.
"Australia have very, very good defence, especially in the first half and that is why Pakistan wingers Shabbir and Rehan Butt had problems in penetrating the defence line. "Australians made things very difficult and that is why we changed the strategy attacking-wise in the second half."
"But don't forget Australia is a fantastic team and it is not easy for any side to beat them," he pointed out. Oltmans was happy with team's solid defence saying "we were working very hard in this area.
If you look Sohail's performance he made a tremendous improvement as compared to Azlan Shah Cup where we played Australia in Malaysia." The coach said he had been working hard to create cohesion and unity among the team. -APP
