Incheon: Coaches and tacticians will be put to the test in Incheon from Saturday when the field hockey competition commences at the Asian Games under a new format introduced in a bid to make the game faster.
Four 15-minute quarters will replace the previous format of two 35-minute halves, bringing coaches and game management more into focus.
The new system has been tested in friendly matches and tournaments such as the Hockey India League, but the blue turf at the Seonhok Stadium will see it for the first time in the international arena.
"The game will become much faster now," Pakistan head coach Shahnaz Sheikh said. "Coaching, strategy and technical aspects will become very important because coaches will need to make substitution charts before the match so that players understand who will come and who will go out and when."
The change in rules will be a challenge for India and defending champion Pakistan, which have found it difficult to adjust to the increasing pace of field hockey, which already had a rolling substitution rule in place. Each team has 11 players on the field and up to five substitutes on the bench.
"Hockey has been a 16-player game for some time now and I'd like to call the new format the '9-11 form' of the game - nine players attacking and all 11 falling back in defense" said Sheikh, a member of Pakistan teams that won the World Cup in 1971 and the bronze medal at the Olympics in 1976.
India's chief coach, Terry Walsh, also understands it will be a challenge and says he had been working hard to instil more "sharpness" in the squad.
"How well we play the crossovers is going to determine where we finish," Walsh said. "This is also a tournament where we want to play the crossovers and learn."
Some teams have been trying to do things differently. India, for instance, has come here with only one goalkeeper to free an extra slot that might be needed for more substitutions.
Vice-captain PR Sreejesh is only backed by defender VR Raghunath, who is being groomed to take over in goal in case of an emergency.
Sheikh, who is hoping to take Pakistan to a ninth gold at the Asian Games, said he had been rolling through quick substitutions in practice games of four quarters.
"There was a practice game back home where I made 49 changes. That's the kind of thing we're likely to see in the coming days," Sheikh said.
Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran said that the format could make the competition more even.
"Strategies may change every 15 minutes and I feel games may become more competitive as even less-fancied teams will be able to bounce back," he said.
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