Waseem worried over poor finishing

Published December 9, 2004

LAHORE, Dec 8: As Spain hockey coach says match against Pakistan will be the toughest, home team captain Waseem Ahmad is worried over poor penalty corner conversion despite having the services of world's best Sohail Abbas.

"It is true that our penalty corner department has not been impressive so far. We are worried about it. Our forwards are already missing and if we fail to score through penalty corner, we will be in big trouble," Waseem told Dawn.

Pakistan meet Spain on Friday at 9:00am in a match which will decide the finalist. The skipper said Pakistan faced toughest challenge of the Trophy since they had to secure a win, while even a draw could take Spain into the final.

"We will be going all out against Spain. We will be out of contention for the Trophy even if we play draw against Spain. We need a win at all cost. And that's a very tough situation," he said.

Waseem said his side would be trying to take revenge for the 4-0 loss to Spain at Athens Olympics which resulted in the green shirts ouster from the medal contention. "We are facing the same situation we faced in Olympics. It was Spain who defeated us after which we were out of the tournament.

I realise our forwards are not clicking at the moment and short corner conversion is not satisfactory. I hope we will overcome our weaknesses and deliver against Spain," he said.

Spain coach Maurits Hendriks said last league game against Pakistan would be the tough, saying home side and The Netherlands were the two strongest sides of the tournament. "I have always said Pakistan and The Netherlands are two toughest sides in this tournament.

It will be a very tough match. "Pakistan have improved overall since the tournament started. They have a good forward-line and penalty corner advantage," the Dutchman said.

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