Touch Wood, England will be in last four

22/02/2002

ENGLAND lost 3-0 to Belgium in Singapore before arriving in Malaysia for
the World Cup, but the minute England coach Malcolm Wood stepped into the
official hotel, he announced that they are ready to make the semifinals.
"We are ready for the World Cup and have weighed our chances in Group B
and the early outcome is that we will not have any difficulties in making
the semifinals," said Wood who described the match against Belgium as a
chance to stretch their legs.
There might be a snag in his plans because in Group B, so far Australia,
South Korea, India and Malaysia are all planning to reach the semifinals.
For hockey fans, this is juicy news because Group B was supposed to be
the less exciting one in the World Cup but ambitions seem to be running
high and explosive matches can be expected.
England have spent the past four days in Singapore and Wood has managed
to cram seven practice sessions into the time available, not least because
Singapore offers identical climatic conditions to those they will
experience in Kuala Lumpur.
With temperatures soaring to 35 degrees Celsius and high humidity, the
experience has been essential for acclimatisation.
"The camp went very smoothly and the climatic conditions have been
perfect. We have been able to work on set pieces and patterns as well as
stretching our legs against Belgium. The players are in a good frame of
mind and have a genuine belief that they can do well in this tournament,"
said Wood.
England have a fully fit squad ahead of their first pool match against
Poland on Sunday with Guy Fordham fully recovered from the injury that
prevented him playing in the Test series in South Africa earlier this
month.
So confident is the Englishman of doing well in the World Cup that he
played phases of the match against Belgium with ten men to simulate "sin
bin" scenarios and dismissed as "mildly fanciful" any suggestion that
England expect to play out the last five minutes of extra time in the
World Cup final with ten men, before heading into a penalty shoot-out.
Malaysia meet England on March 2 and the hosts are counting on a win
against the Englishmen for a good finish in the World Cup - but the
English seem to have their own agenda.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
(END)