Bhubaneswar — England captain David Ames said the manner of their World Cup defeat to Germany will “hurt and sting for a long time” after a draining 4-3 shoot-out loss, while coach Paul Revington admitted that he will work on giving his side a killer instinct touch.
England shipped two late goals as Germany turned the tide in incredible fashion here to set up a last four clash with Australia.
“It will sting for a long time,” Ames told The Hockey Paper. “We dominated the game – and deserved to win outright – probably as well as we’ve had all tournament. It shows the calibre of this squad coming into a quarter-final after five days off.
“It was typical German style, they know how to ground out a result and stay in the game.”
England held a 2-0 lead heading into a final quarter which saw Germany down to 10 with a Christopher Ruhr yellow card before they pulled Alex Stadler from goal and went for goals.
With England unable to conjure a crucial third, Germany scored through the Grambusch brothers in the 58th and 59th minutes to set up a shoot-out.
“We don’t want to change the way we are playing, to continue playing good hockey. Perhaps in the last five minutes, we went off the boil,” added Ames.
“Especially when they take their keeper off that’s always hard to deal with. You work a lot of hard yards, prep and training over four years and for that to finish the way it did, it will hurt for a long time.”
Ames praised his largely young England side for their rise under coach Revington, and said he would happily continue if the coaching staff still wanted him to lead.
FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023
32 England v Germany (QF)
James Albery
(Photo by WorldSportPics/Frank Uijlenbroek)
“This is an exceptional squad that is doing incredible things and moving our game forwards. We have to continue the sport and push these guys to new heights as the up and coming players are exceptional and coaching staff who want to push them.
“I’ve enjoyed being a leader and captain of this group. It has been one of the most proud moments. It’s been a long slog over six months with injury and coming back to play at this level.”
Meanwhile, Revington said his England troops would rally from this defeat and be eager to prove they can end a 13-year title drought.
“Age, profile and where they are as a group, I don’t think that will last for a long time,” said the South African. “They are hungry to do well. They were close, but at this level, very close is not enough. They know that and I don’t have to tell them.
“I’m proud of what they’ve done but it would have been better to be proud and progressing to the semi-finals.”
Revington revealed that he told his group to remain calm and keep playing their front-foot hockey in the final quarter.
He added: “At 2-0, what this group have got to learn is that they are capable of scoring a third and being able to put the knife in and finish the game. That is still something we have to develop.
“The fact that Germany took off their keeper and an unfortunate green card made it quite difficult to deal with.”
