Bhubaneswar, Jan 15 (IANS): South Africa started the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela with a 0-1 defeat against Argentina. However, the loss hasn't affected their confidence and the team will aim for a good outing against France in the next match on Monday.

The head coach of the South Africa Men's Hockey Team, Cheslyn Gie reflected on their previous performance against Argentina and stated that they are working on improving their play.

"The positive from the game against Argentina is that we competed really well and fought till the end. Our team can definitely improve in a lot of things, especially the way we counterattack. The players can also improve their pressing during the match. We have seen a lot of videos of our previous match and are working on rectifying our mistakes," commented Cheslyn Gie.

Cheslyn Gie also asserted that his players have the quality to register a win against France. He said, "We will be concentrating on staying in the game for a longer period of time. France are a good side and we played against them in the Nations Cup which was a great experience for us. We had played well in that game and will look to do things even better this time in an important match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela."

The head coach added, "France have a good mixture of new and experienced players, so, I think it will be a different contest than the Nations Cup."

Meanwhile, Dayaan Cassiem, the captain of the South Africa team, lauded the facilities for hockey in Odisha. 

"The facilities here are amazing. We all know that India is a hockey nation which makes all the experiences really special for us as a hockey team. I hope that we get to play many more tournaments here in Odisha in the future," he concluded.