With just one day to go for the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup Poland 2023/24, the players and coaches of the participating teams have spoken to express their expectations.
Austria – Robin Rösch, Head Coach
“Our team is going into the Hockey Nations Cup tournament as underdogs with a young squad. Many of our players are preparing for the U21 European Championships. It will be a huge challenge for us to keep up with such a young team at this level. However, we are looking forward to the opportunity to gain valuable experience and develop further.”
Canada – Patrick Tshutshani, Head Coach
“The Nations Cup will pose great challenges for us, and we look forward to the challenge. We will strive for more consistency in our play, consistency in our principles of play and consistency in our behaviours. We are looking to piece all these together. By doing this, it will put us in a good position to grow and compete.”
France – Frédéric Soyez, Head Coach
We’re entering the home stretch for the Olympic Games. This tournament is an important stage in our preparation. We’re going to give it our best shot to qualify for the Pro League next season.
Korea – Kim JaeHyeon, Captain
“The Nations Cup holds great memories for us, with a strong performance in the first tournament, finishing third, entering the Top 10 globally, and earning the Best Goalkeeper award. Since the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers, we’ve revamped our coaching staff and players. I promise continuous improvement and strong skills in future competitions. See you in Poland!
Malaysia – Muhammad Marhan Mohd Jalil, Captain
“First of all, I can’t wait to play in Poland. Regarding the countries in the Malaysian group, we can’t look down on every team. For the Canadian & Pakistani teams, we know a little bit about the style of the game but it is different, especially Pakistan is faster for counter attack hockey compared to Canada. France is more European style and more tactical.”
New Zealand – Greg Nicol, Head Coach
“The Nations Cup is an important step on our journey to the Olympics in Paris. We get to test ourselves against some quality opposition and experience European conditions. We are looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to grow our brand of hockey as we build to the pinnacle in Paris.”
Poland – Jacek Kurowski, Captain
“Excited and ready to execute. The opponents are demanding but we need to focus on us. We can’t wait to finally play in front of our home crowd.”
South Africa – Dayaan Cassiem, Captain
“We are really excited to join the Nations Cup in Poland. The team will be getting together after a while, and we can’t wait to start playing together again. We will make sure to make the country proud and we hope you will support us, wherever you are following from.”
The 2nd edition of the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup will be played from 31 May to 9 June 2024 in Gniezno, Poland. All information about the tournament is available here.
Source; FIH.hockey
