Tag: Siegfried Aikman

LAHORE: The head coach of the Pakistan men’s hockey team Siegfried Aikman on Thursday, has stepped down from his position.

According to the details, the Dutch coach did not receive a salary from the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the past 12 months which made it “impossible for him to continue working” with the team.

“A lot of promises were made but they were not fulfilled. I wanted to fulfil my commitment but it’s time for me to move on,” said Aikman.

As per the sources, the reason behind the delay in Aikman’s salary was a rift between the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and PHF.

PHF General Secretary Haider Hussain expressed his disappointment over Aikman’s decision while accepting that nothing was being paid to the head coach.

He also claimed that he contacted the PSB regarding this matter on a number of occasions but the board did not take any action to resolve the issue.

It is worth mentioning here that PHF appointed Siegfried Aikman as Pakistan’s head coach in December 2021 for a five-year-long contract.

The Dutch has previously served as coach of the Japanese team, which stunned the world by winning the Asian Games title in 2018.

LAHORE: Saeed Khan has been appointed as the manager of the national hockey team while Siegfried Aikman retained his coaching role as the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) announced the new team management on Sunday. 

According to a press release issued by PHF, Ayaz Mehmood, Mohammad Usman Shaikh, Imran Butt and Mohammad Ali Khan will join the head coach Aikman in the coaching panel.

The statement added that PHF president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar approved the fresh appointments in the team management.

Abuzar Amrao and Rana Nasrullah have been named as video analyst and physical trainer, respectively.

Moreover, a training camp for the senior hockey players will commence on September 25 at Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium in Karachi, after which the national men’s hockey team will be formed.

Pakistan are set to participate in the Sultan Azlan Hockey Cup scheduled from November 1 to 10 in Malaysia.

READ: Lewandowski’s brace powers Barcelona to sink Elche 3-0 in LaLiga

 

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s hockey team head coach Siegfried Aikman put the blame for the team’s defeat against New Zealand in the  Commonwealth Games on the lack of time to fully recover from the previous game. 

Aikman claimed that the team’s attacking strategy against New Zealand backfired as the players did not get ample time to recover from the match against South Africa just a day earlier.

“Our aim was to play very attacking. We saw opportunities after analyzing New Zealand and our match. In our wish to attack we neglected that we played the day before and that we might not have fully recovered.” wrote Aikman in a thread posted on his Twitter account.

Our aim was to play very attacking. We saw opportunities after analyzing New Zealand and our match.
In our wish to attack we neglected that we played the day before and that we might not have fully recovered.

— siegfried Aikman (@SiggyAikman) August 1, 2022

The national hockey team has so far remained unimpressive in their Commonwealth campaign as they lost 1-4 against New Zealand following a 2-2 draw against South Africa in their first encounter.

Head coach Aikman further stated that the team lagged in their attack and made too many unforced errors in passing while claiming that it was necessary for the team to be physically stronger in order to play an attacking game against physical fit teams.

“We were unable to score and just before the end they scored the last goal. Conclusion we played an attacking match when possible but to do so against physical fit teams we need to be physically stronger,” he said.

“Players were not fully recovered from the SA match and made to many unforced errors in passing and receiving we also had problems with tactical decision making. We have 2 days to recover and to prepare for the Scotland match.” he added.

Aikman expressed hope that the team would perform well in their next game against Scotland on August 3 and demonstrate what they had learnt so far from the previous matches.

READ: Shamsi’s five-wicket haul helps Proteas to win T20I series against England

 

KARACHI: The head coach of the Pakistan Men’s National Hockey Team Siegfried Aikman has accepted the mistake of fielding 12 players in the Green Shirts’ last group match of the Asia Cup.

Aikman, who is in the Netherlands to spend some time with his family following Pakistan’s exit from the Asia Cup, commented about the incident of mistakenly deploying 12 players on the field and accepted all the responsibility.

“We were making changes in a matter of minutes during the match against Japan. However, I, being the head coach, accept that 12 players should not be on the field and I accept this responsibility as the coach,” Aikman stated.

“It was a big omission by the team management and due to this shortcoming we could not qualify for the World Cup,” he maintained.

The Dutch coach then also accepted that the shortcoming hurt the sentiments of the Pakistan Hockey fans and therefore apologized to the nation on behalf of the entire team management.

“I understand that the Pakistani fans are sad following this incident and therefore I and my team apologize for disappointing you,” he stated.

Aikman further shared his disappointment with Pakistan’s early exit from the Asia Cup and failing to qualify for the Hockey World Cup while claiming that things will take time to get back to normal.

“We are disappointed to be out of the Asia Cup Super Eight and World Cup. We lost just one match in the event and trailed by one goal margin,” he said.

“Our team is undergoing restructuring, we want to strengthen Pakistan Hockey. We dominated teams like Japan and India. When I came, Pakistan Hockey was in the decline and I think things will take time to get back on track.

“We get fewer matches, we need to play 35 to 40 matches a year and I think our players will get the valuable experience after getting to play more matches,” Aikman concluded.

READ: Second phase of the PCB Conditioning Camp kicks off at NHPC today