Junior Hockey World Cup 2025: India’s hunger pleases Sreejesh after 7-0 win vs Chile
India’s 7-0 win over Chile in its series opener at the FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2025 showcased the host nation’s might. Despite the emphatic scoreline, head coach P.R. Sreejesh wants to see a ‘killer attitude’ and greater hunger in front of the goal from his players.
The Indian Colts struggled to find the back of the net in the opening quarter, squandering several opportunities despite dominating play and earning only one penalty corner.
“When something like that happens, we always tell them, don’t relax once you are in the circle, just find that killer attitude. That’s what you really want; you need to have that kind of hunger to score. They raised their game; they created a chance,” Sreejesh explained after the match.
Playing in front of a noisy home crowd, Sreejesh stressed on the importance of overcoming starting jitters.
“See, when a major tournament starts, players tend to hesitate a bit. That was starting trouble, but once they found out that they were in rhythm, they started to attack with purpose, they created opportunities, and eventually they scored,” the legendary Indian goalkeeper added.
Penalty Corner Confidence Restored
A major concern leading into the tournament was the team’s penalty corner conversion rate, which stood at a worrying 15 per cent during its runner-up finish in the Sultan of Johor Cup 2025.
The injury-forced absence of drag-flick specialist Araijeet Singh Hundal compounded this issue. However, the two successful short corner goals against Chile gave the coach a significant boost in confidence.
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“Now we are on the track. We’ve started to score. We’ve created PC opportunities, and we scored. We scored PCs,” the 37-year-old said with a cheeky smile, highlighting the improvement.
Tackling Low Block Defences
Facing a lower-ranked opponent meant India had to break down a tight, low block defence—a task Sreejesh praised his boys for executing well.
While the Indian Colts recorded 38 circle penetrations, this dominance didn’t fully translate to the scoresheet.
“A team that plays a more defensive game will not give you that much space,” Sreejesh noted.
“Sometimes we need to get them out of the circle, make them more uncomfortable, so that we create more opportunity. It is always easier to create more scoring opportunities against a more attacking-minded team,” he explained.
Regarding tactics, the double Olympic medallist emphasised trust, stating that the players are the “boss on the field to make decisions,” with the coach’s job being to prepare them for every situation.
Looking ahead to the next match against Oman, Sreejesh’s instruction for improvement was simple and direct: “Just put the ball inside the goal.”
He also reminded that this is an under-21 tournament and the team will improve with experience.
“They know where they’re lacking. It is just the start, so once they go back, they analyse their matches. They watch things, then they’ll come back in a better way,” he said.
Published on Nov 29, 2025