2014 Rabobank Hockey World Cup Views and Analysis
By Glenn Kirkham of East Grinstead Hockey Club
Glenn Kirkham made 223 appearances for England and Great Britain and retired from international hockey at the age of 31 in 2013. Glenn competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games in Beijing and London respectively as well as Commonwealth Games, World Cups, European Nations and Champions Trophy competitions. Glenn won the European Nations in 2009 with England, defeating Germany 5:3 in the final and is considered to have been one of the most consistent performers to have graced the England and Great Britain sides.
Great result against India; how did it feel for you watching - especially the last few minutes…?!
A tense last few minutes thats for sure and it's much easier playing in those types of games then watching from on TV. I'm really pleased for Simon Mantell, who missed the last World Cup through injury, scoring a fantastic winning goal - a really difficult skill playing a bouncing ball on your back hand. It was one of those matches where getting a win was absolutely vital to ensure that they kept on the right path to the semi finals.
Looks great to see so many players threatening to score; Mark Gleghorne, Simon Mantell, David Condon, Ali Brogden, Barry Middleton and Tom Carson. Your thoughts on our attack ?
I think Bobby and the rest of the coaching staff will be pretty pleased with the number of open play chances the team are creating and its now a case of taking those chances more regularly. I think I've been really impressed with some of the link up play through the midfield areas with Barry and Ashley showing such a strong understanding of each others game.
England’s défense yesterday had a lot to do. Dan Fox put in a heroic performance including his injury and they held it together well… and Iain Lewers is still to return to the defensive unit. Were you impressed ?
I think only letting in two goals in two games against teams who pose a real goalscoring threat is a good start. You don't see too many clean sheets in international hockey anymore so I feel the defense should be pretty confident going in to the Malaysia game. I've been impressed with the back line as a whole but in particularly Mikey Hoare and Dan Fox have been an assured presence together in the absence of Iain Lewers.
We seem to have an array of options at corners; without giving any tactics away how do you feel our corner threat is evolving ?
It was good to see the boys put a couple of corners away yesterday, after struggling somewhat against Spain, it definitely eases the pressure on the team when you know your corners are firing. A number of teams have been struggling with their injection and trap so it may be that it's just a difficult pitch for these skills to be executed perfectly. Mark Gleghorne has been flicking really well for us (East Grinstead) all season and the power he put into his flick against India would have left most keepers flapping. We do have a good number of options at corners but it's clear to see that our main threat in Ashley is still struggling with his shoulder and hopefully a few days recovery will allow him to flick more in the remaining matches.
Malaysia tomorrow for the Men. Not a side many watching will know much about; what can you tell us ?
Malaysia are a side who are always dangerous at home but then haven't necessarily fared so well on their travels. They play a similar style to Korea and have a fit team with a number of quality players. Their key player is Faizal who is still only 23 but has been a mainstay in the team for a number of years now. He's very quick, skillful and particularly dangerous on the back hand - definitely one for the England defence to keep an eye on.
How do you think the group is progressing ahead of those all important matches against Belgium and Australia ?
I think it's pretty much going to script at the moment. Todays match between Belgium and Australia will be a really interesting one and give a really good indicator of how far this Belgian team have progressed, they certainly looked good against Malaysia. For England it's about making sure that they get maximum points out of todays game against Malaysia and then picking up at least a win against one of Belgium and Australia in the final two matches.
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