Paris Olympics, hockey: India show sparks but fuse out in key moments in defeat to world champions Germany

Craig Fulton expected a strong Germany outfit, resembling something close to their Olympic squad. He got one. But if the India coach hoped his players would raise their game and match the world champions, he didn’t get that.

Fulton’s India, throughout this tour, have shown sparks of brilliance. But in the true schizophrenic nature of this Indian hockey team, they also seem to fuse out during key moments. Saturday wasn’t different.

Continuing their irresistible-occasionally-frustrating-sometimes run of form, India were outplayed in the first and third quarters but in the second and fourth, they took the fight to Germany with high, aggressive pressing. Individual errors and lack of quality in the final third, however, meant they succumbed a 3-2 loss in the FIH Pro League in London.

There were many different things Fulton tried on Saturday compared to the previous weekend, when they beat Germany and lost to Britain the following day. In the goal, Krishan Pathak played a rare full match with PR Sreejesh restricted to the bench. In the midfield, Raj Kumar Pal and Vivek Sagar Prasad made way for Shamsher Singh and Raheel Mohammad while up front, Abhishek – one of the standout players on this tour – was dropped, with Lalit Upadhyay getting a chance.

The experimenting didn’t stop there. Defender Jarmanpreet Singh wasn’t used for the entire first half and at times, it felt like Fulton was simulating different scenarios for the Paris Olympics. When asked about this in the half-time interview, the South African simply replied: “(It’s a) top secret.”

What isn’t top secret, however, is India’s tendency to make mistakes. For all the improvements they’ve made of late, including the goal-scorers finding their touch, India have been guilty of making one too many errors, which overshadow all their other hard work.

On Saturday, two such mistakes led to Germany scoring goals. The first was from Pathak who let a feeble Gonzalo Peillat drag-flick pass from in-between his legs. It was a soft goal to concede, especially given the race between him and Sreejesh for the lone goalkeeping spot in the 16-member team for the Olympics.

Pathak recovered and stood his ground rest of the match. What would worry India is the mistakes piling up in the outfield, especially in their own half.

In the 10th minute, a pass aimed for Hardik Singh was intercepted by a German player who launched a speedy counterattack, which was finished in style by Christopher Ruhr.

These two mistakes eventually were the difference. Germany added a third in the 33rd minute, with another Peillat drag-flick, and India cut the deficit with goals from Harmanpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh. They had a very good chance to equalise in the final seconds but missed out. Jarmanpreet, who came on only in the second half, had the ball at his stick and had to simply lob it over the German goalkeeper, who had committed himself and was out of position. Instead, he ended up hitting the goalpost.

It was, in a way, a fitting finish, on a day where error-ridden India were punished for their blunders.

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