David Goodfield 'can't wait' for World Cup after Commonwealth bronze
A bronze medal in his debut Commonwealth Games has given David Goodfield confidence that England can go to the Hockey World Cup this year and spring a surprise.
Shrewsbury’s Goodfield was part of the team that bounced back from a semi-final loss to Australia with a medal-winning 2-1 victory over India on Saturday.
And with India hosting the World Cup later this year, Goodfield wants their win to have been a warning shot across the bows of other teams.
“I can’t wait for the World Cup,” he said. “For us as a group, we’re trying to improve every single game.
“We’ve done that throughout this tournament and hopefully, in the time we’ve got between now and then we can keep pushing forwards as a group and get ourselves in good shape for that."
England’s 4-3 loss to India in the pool phase, which saw their opposition recover from 3-2 down in the final five minutes to snatch victory, meant a grudge match against Australia in the semi-final.
A 2-1 loss dropped England into the bronze medal match on Saturday where they would face India once again.
Sam Ward gave England the lead after seven minutes but India levelled on the stroke of half time through a penalty corner.
Top scorer Ward grabbed his ninth of the tournament in the second half, though, and England held on - having to overturn the umpire’s decision to award a penalty stroke to India with just two minutes remaining - to take the bronze medal.
And that success is a memory Goodfield will carry for the rest of his life.
“It’s amazing to have won a bronze medal. Especially for me at my first Commonwealth Games - my first multi-sport event,” he said.
“To get a medal I’m absolutely over the moon.
“It’s very difficult to turn things around from losing the semi-final to preparing for the bronze medal match.
“There were a lot of sad faces after Australia. It was a very hard result to take and you have to grieve a little bit for that.
“But we’ve worked a lot on our culture as a group.
“So it was good, the next morning, to pull everyone together and get our focus back on the bronze match to make sure we came away with a medal.”
Elsewhere on the Gold Coast Wales’ Andy Davies finished 11th in the men’s marathon, clocking a time of 2:26:05 in 30 degree heat on the final day of competition.
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