FIH Pro League: The Netherlands gets ready for Indian challenge
FIH Pro League: "Playing India at home is always challenging," says the Netherlands Chief Coach Max Caldas. Currently in Malaysia, the Dutch Coach admits that "opening games against India are very important and a good start can be a great morale booster for any team in a tournament like FIH Pro League."
While the matches between India and the Netherlands have always been nerve-wrenching, the last one being the Quarter Final at the 2018 Men's World Cup where India lost 1-2, the matches on January 18 and 19 will be further more closely contested, thanks to the two Chief Coaches being well-aware of their on-ground tactics. India's Chief Coach Graham Reid and Caldas have formerly worked together.
"Graham is a very experienced Coach and he is very clear about the process and the kind of hockey he expects from the players. I expect India to be as competitive as always and playing in Odisha, they will be very good," he added.
Like many other teams taking part in the FIH Hockey Pro League, Max Caldas believes these highly competitive matches will be a good stepping stone for Tokyo Olympics. "The players and combinations we wanted to test were experimented during the previous edition of Pro League. This edition we will have our most competitive team as this will be the stepping stone for us to be the best at Tokyo," Caldas said.