Despite its lacklustre showing in the hockey World Cup, coach Jose Brasa believes this Indian team is improving.

By Adarsh Vinay

After a 4-1 thrashing of archrivals Pakistan had given India's hockey World Cup campaign a flying start, the hosts flattered to deceive. They did not win a single match since the opener and will take on Argentina for the seventh-eighth play-off on Friday. Despite their poor performance, coach Jose Brasa still has ample faith in the team.

"I am happy with this team's performance. We are still working on our style of open, attacking hockey but in my opinion this team played well," he said.

Before the tournament commenced, Brasa had targeted a fifth-place finish. Now the best India can manage is seventh, provided they beat Argentina. But Brasa believes that top-eight is also no mean feat.

"Yes, I had aimed for the fifth position but seventh or eighth is also not bad for a team ranked twelfth. It is not a small jump, we are still improving. The World Cup is only the beginning," said the Spaniard.

Brasa added that there was no short cut to solving the problems in Indian hockey. He said the whole process would take time. "These are 30-year old problems we are talking about. Nothing can be changed in one year. Change will happen, but it will take time," he said.

The India coach reckons that the clash against the South Americans will be a tough encounter but he expects India to win. "Argentina may have scored a lot of goals but they have also conceded many goals. They have been involved in some very close matches in the tournament. We should be able to beat them. I will be very disappointed if we don't."

He added that home advantage will also play a crucial role. "When we last met them, we beat them in Salta (in December). So we should definitely be able to beat them on home turf."