FIH Hockey WC: 'Happy, but we want more,' says coach Sjoerd Marijne
Synopsis
After a 0-0 draw with England secured India's spot in the FIH Hockey World Cup's next round, head coach Sjoerd Marijne said the team is pleased with their progress but stressed, "We are happy, but we want more," highlighting the need for improvement.
Indian women's hockey team head coach Sjoerd Marijne stressed that while the team are pleased with their progress, they remain hungry for greater improvement, saying, "We are happy, but we want more."
His remarks came after India advanced to the second round of the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup 2026 following a 0-0 draw against England in their final Pool D match, which saw them finish second behind China. India came into the game knowing a draw would take them through but didn't play like a side that was playing for the draw. They won three penalty corners in the first quarter but couldn't convert any of them and had a few other chances for field goals as well, but neither Ishika nor Salima Tete could convert those, according to ESPN.
Marijne calls for better consistency
In a video posted by Hockey India on X, Marijne said the team needs to improve its quality and consistency in possession, particularly by maintaining the passing standards shown in the opening two quarters. He added that India can compete with any team in the world if they sustain that level throughout the match, while praising the young debutants for handling the pressure well. However, he stressed that despite being happy with the progress, the team wants more. "We lacked a little bit in quality when we had the ball. In the beginning, we passed really well to each other, but then the basics were dropping a little bit, and that is something we need to work on, like playing like the first two quarters. If we can do that every quarter, yeah, we can match every team in the world. So I think that, that is our next step. But for now, I'm really happy with the way they are doing with the pressure. Yeah, we have some really young players, all of the debutants, so I must say, yeah, we are happy, but we want more," he said.
Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne reflects on the Indian Women’s Team’s hard-fought 0️⃣-0️⃣ draw against England and their journey into the next round of the FIH Hockey World Cup Belgium & Netherlands 2026. 🏑🔥 Hear it from the man at the helm. 🎥👇#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #HWC2026… pic.twitter.com/RyVNBVlGyo — Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 20, 2026
Focus on defence and penalty corners
Marijne praised India's defensive resilience and penalty-corner defence, saying the team must be able to rely on these strengths in difficult matches. He acknowledged that India need to become more clinical with penalty corners, especially after earning 12 against England, while crediting England for defending them effectively. "Sometimes matches are going like this, and then you have to be, you must be able to rely on your defence and on your PC defence. And I think that is what we did today. And of course, there are points to improve. If you get 12 PCs, we need to score at least two, three PCs, maybe more. Today, yeah, they were very good- the drag flick, Deepika and Navneet. But today, England defended also really well. So yeah, we have to move on and don't think about 'we can't' because at the Nations Cup, you saw how good they were," he said.
India will next face the Netherlands in the first match of the second pool phase on Friday evening.