The Tribune: India fall back to old ways, lose to Germany; Australia held by England

Indervir Grewal

A masterful Germany first pushed India off their axis with faultless passing and enviable defending, and then characteristically applied the chokehold to make it one of the most one-sided 2-0 wins in international hockey.
If the defeat to England, conceding the late goal, was heartbreaking, this schooling in disciplined and tactical hockey by four-time Olympics gold medallists would have been morale-crushing.

India didn’t start as badly as they had against England, but the little time they took to settle their nerves was enough for Germany to find their touch. “We didn’t start well, we started nervously,” said India coach Sjoerd Marijne. “We lost the ball too many times.”

Along with the initial nerves, India’s struggle to find a foothold in the match was increased by Germany’s tight defence, with Germans breathing down the Indian players’ neck. As the space shrank, finding passes became difficult.

Nullifying counter

But it was the way Germany held possession that exhausted India, both physically and mentally. As Germany nullified India’s counterattacks — their main style of play —the hosts ran out of ideas. Germany stuck to their plan of playing “basic passing hockey”, and slowly unraveled the Indian defence. But Germany played a way more tactical game than a basic passing game.

Their fast passing constant movement in the middle confused the Indians, especially the central midfielders, and the hosts’ defence started to lose shape. The Indian players struggled to read the play, and were slow to react, which is why there were fewer interceptions and steals and, therefore, fewer counterattacks. “Yes, it looked like that, but Germany didn’t have many big chances as well. So, I think they (Indians) did a good job,” Marijne said when asked if the Indian struggled defensively, especially in the middle.

But Marijne admitted that India “didn’t get enough interceptions” because the “players didn’t get close enough to the opponents”.

That leeway enabled Germany to get behind the Indian fortress on a few times, which in turn resulted in the Indian defence becoming more wayward. From their first penalty corner, captain Martin Haner scored in the 17th minute.
Three minutes later, Mats Grambusch got too much space to run into the circle and his strike was defected in off an Indian stick.

Results

Germany 2-0 India

Martin Haner (17th min)

Mats Grambusch (20th min)

Australia 2-2 England