KUALA LUMPUR: Even though the Brazilian team are aware that they would be facing the world’s best ranking teams, they are confident they will be able to give their best at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Series Finals Kuala Lumpur starting today at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
“The team were put together since November last year to prepare for the tournament. It is in great shape and has improved a lot.
“Our expectation is to be the number four here. We hope to have a good game,” team coach, Claudio Rocha told reporters, here on Wednesday.
He noted that it was not an easy task for a football-mad nation to form a good hockey team.
“We used the Rio Olympics as the base to start up the team and making hockey popular in Brazil,” he said.
“Some players are playing in Holland, London, Australia, Ireland and Spain, it is a bit difficult to manage the players. Even in Brazil, the distance from place to place is about a thousand kilometres.
“To gather everybody is not easy, but for sure we are improving,” Rocha added.
For the finals, Rocha noted that 11 of the players in the team played for Brazil at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and three were the Under-21 players.
Their opening match today against Malaysia was expected to be tough but they were willing to give a fight. – Bernama
