FIH Pro League hockey: India’s two superb field goals against Germany is a welcome sign for Paris Olympics

Bruised after a 5-0 series hammering in Australia, India’s forwards got into a huddle soon after they returned home.

Their impotence was one of the biggest concerns to emerge from a forgettable tour. They couldn’t score, couldn’t put pressure on Australia’s defence and couldn’t win enough penalty corners to allow captain Harmanpreet Singh to showcase his might. The forwards knew they had a little more than two months to fix this problem.

“So, after the tour, we had a meeting,” India forward Sukhjeet Singh said. Frank words were spoken and ideas were exchanged. When they left the room an hour or so later, an understanding was reached. “If you enter the ‘D’, then you have to have an outcome,” Sukhjeet recalled.

The ‘outcome’ needn’t necessarily be a goal – it could even be a shot or winning a penalty corner. In short, not letting an attack go to waste.

On Saturday, the forwards walked their talk. And Sukhjeet, as was the case in Antwerp last weekend, was at the heart of most attacking moves.

The 27-year-old outwitted a defender to win a penalty corner, which Harmanpreet Singh converted, and then started a move from the left flank and finished it with a beautiful strike as India defeated world champions Germany 3-0 in a Pro League match in London.

Sukhjeet didn’t reveal all that was spoken in that meeting after the team returned from Perth. But he did hint that all players, young and old, juniors and seniors, could voice their thoughts without worrying about hierarchy.

It wasn’t always like this. Frankly airing opinions wasn’t the culture in the team, coach Craig Fulton recently said at The Indian Express Idea Exchange. “One of the bigger problems in India (hockey) though is that of the hierarchy. The more junior you are as a player, the less say you have. I don’t subscribe to that,” Fulton had said (full interview to be published on Monday, June 3).

He added: “If that’s the case, you are in a flawed system. I have tried to crack that wide open: of course you need seniors but you want a safe space where players can share without any worries. That we have achieved from my side and also from seniors which is great.”

The culture change seems to have had a positive impact. It’s telling that the most impactful forwards heading into the Olympics are also among the youngest, not necessarily age-wise but in terms of international experience.

The older guard – Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Akashdeep Singh who have been a part of the team for a major part of the last decade – haven’t exactly been able to influence the proceedings as they once did. But Sukhjeet, Abhishek and Gurjant Singh – the scorer of India’s third goal on Saturday – have done enough to impose themselves on opposition defences.

They did it against the current and former Olympic champions, Belgium and Argentina respectively, and flummoxed the world champions (albeit not at full strength) on Saturday.

Story of 3 good goals

For the first goal, in the 16th minute, Sukhjeet won possession near the 23m line and passed to Hardik Singh. He continued his run into the ‘D’ and was there to receive the ball back from Hardik on top of the circle, turned to face the goal and invited a tackle from behind from the German defender. The referee didn’t hesitate to award a corner – India’s only PC of the match – and Harmanpreet put India ahead against the run of play.

Eleven minutes into the third quarter, Sukhjeet swung the momentum in India’s favour yet again. He got the ball on the left flank, played it forward to his strike-partner Abhishek while continuing to run inside the ‘D’. Abhishek dribbled and swerved past the defence near the baseline and passed the ball back to Sukhjeet, who took one touch and unleashed a powerful tomahawk with the second to give German goalkeeper Alexander Stadler no chance to save.

If the first two goals were all about decisive and brave play inside the ‘D’ – an element that’s been missing for a while – the third was all about combinations and silky, one-touch passing with seven out of 10 outfield players involved in the play.

A fantastic team move by @TheHockeyIndia to go 3-0 up against Germany as they look to secure all 3 points in their opening game of the London stage in the 2023/24 season of the #FIHProLeague!

📲 Watch the final quarter LIVE now on https://t.co/igjqkvA4ct! pic.twitter.com/yMcZgVch8m

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) June 1, 2024

The move started with Harmanpreet’s forward pass to Manpreet Singh, who played it to Vivek Sagar Prasad on his right. Vivek passed it to Lalit Upadhyay, who spotted a fine overlapping run on the wings by Sanjay. The defender saw Jarmanpreet Singh positioned near the baseline and found him with a neat pass. Jarmanpreet looked up a couple of times and crossed the ball towards the goal. Gurjant got on his knee and tapped the ball past the goalkeeper with a first-time shot.

In the end, it was a comfortable win for India despite them not being at their best against an under-strength Germany. And while the result will remain a footnote, the performance of the forward line heading into the Olympics will be a big takeaway.

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