FIH Pro League | Indian men bounce back with a tactical win over Germany

Indian men bounce back with a 1-0 win against Germany, while women suffer third consecutive defeat against Spain.

For the second time through the FIH Pro League, the Indian men bounced back from defeat to register a hard-fought 1-0 win against Germany at the Kalinga Stadium here on Wednesday. The women, however, slid further, losing by the same margin to Spain for their third defeat in a row.

The scoreline in the men’s game might indicate a lack of action, but it was anything but that. The experiment with personnel continued as Manpreet Singh and Abhishek Nain were rested while Harmanpreet Singh and Hardik Singh returned. However, Fulton’s tactical play ensured the Germans would not have a free run of the field like they did on Tuesday.

Harmanpreet’s free hit from outside the circle in the fourth minute was intercepted by Rajinder Singh — among the most impressive of youngsters in the competition so far — who put an unmarked Gurjant Singh through for the match’s only goal. Rajinder, with his intelligent sense of positioning and impeccable passing on the right, has been instrumental in most of the goals scored by India.

A tighter defence and zonal marking cut down the space available for the Germans to attack. The tackling was cleaner, with Nilam Sanjeep Xess and Yashdeep Siwach cutting down angles from the flanks to advance.

Despite seven penalty corners, Germany and Gonzalo Peillat were unable to find a way to get past Krishan Pathak and Suraj Karkera, both goalkeepers bringing off a series of impressive saves to deny them.

With Manpreet missing, Hardik moved into an attacking midfield role and repeatedly created chances. India came close on a number of occasions, but Alexander Stadler in the German goal stood firm, including a double save in the 44th minute from Gurjant and Vivek Prasad.

The Spanish men, meanwhile, avenged their shootout defeat in the previous game with a 4-1 win against England, scoring once in each quarter.