The “emotion” of the Spanish hockey team after beating Malaysia (6-5) in the ‘shoot outs’ stayed on the blue of the stadium in bhubaneswar (India). Later, the coach Max Caldas gave them a talk and… to the hotel to relax. “We talk about what we did right and wrong”sums up Marc Miralles, author of some penalty–stroke and another two in a batch that put the Redsticks in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. This Tuesday at 12:00 (Teledeporte) they will face Australia, the number one in the world and candidate for the title. “They have a lot of intensity in their game. We have to focus on what we do in the areas. Against Malaysia they attacked us little but they were effective. Secondly, we have to improve the success in the penalty-corner”, he assured.
Miralleswho got to know hockey thanks to his Grandpa, He was born in Terrassa, now he plays in the polo club and little by little he has become one of the leaders of a rejuvenated selection, with a great future ahead. Everything is new for his teammates, but also for him. “Max gave us a good reflection: the teams prepare to compete, but we learn while we compete. Competing in front of 20,000 people, risking it in some ‘shoot outs’… It all adds up as an experience. What we are learning is outrageous”, explains the man from Egar, one of the team’s specialists in the penalty-corner.
The attacker, tall, fast, with a great technical level and with a goal, considers that what the team lacks to be at the same table as Australia, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands is “time”. And that, obviously, in a few hours little can change against Australia: “We have all the qualities to be at the top. The staff It’s impressive, the federation is committed to us… we have the tools to be a team that will be talked about over time. We know the direction and we are committed. The luck is that most people are under 23 years old. The progression is incredible, but we still have to spend hours together and find scenarios that make us grow”, said Miralles, who only has the internship left to finish his studies in Marketing.
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From his reference Lleonart to the art of the penalty-corner
In the group stage, Spain lost to the India (2-0) and England (0-4), but could To win a Wales (5-1). Against Malaysia, on the other hand, they did not go beyond a tie after missing the eight penalty-corners that they had in the match. The player is a specialist but he acknowledges that the defenses are becoming more and more sophisticated: “We all train it the same: we spend many hours alone pulling, perfecting the movement, the gesture… We must add the server and the parador. The part of the shooter you have done with training, with hours and with confidence. You have to always have it, it may be that the rivals study the launches very well or the goalkeeper has the day ”.
Perhaps the growth of Miralles, who already as a junior pointed out ways (“now Spain has Miralles, who is very good”, another coach recently recalled to AS), is due to their ability to learn from others. Or how he himself defines: “I steal things from everyone.” That did first with xavi leonartwhom he watched from the stands in Terrassa, then his teammates David Alegre and Roc Oliva at RC Polo, and, of course, Pau Quemada, the last Spanish specialist in penalty-corner kicks. Miralles has a part of all of them and now he shows them off in India, “a unique place to experience a World Cup.”