S2H TEAM

As Germany prepare for their FIH Pro League double header against Great Britain in London due to take place on Wednesday, goalkeeper Mark Appel looked forward to the Olympics and cited India as one of the teams to be feared.

Much of this accrues, according to Appel from the Covid pandemic-induced slowdown of international activity which has meant that it’s difficult to gauge India’s tactics and strategies.

The German goalkeeper reportedly said: “They (India) beat us up (6-1 recently), if I’m honest, when they played us recently. This is what can happen. We still don’t know what is going on there in terms of squad preparation. We just don’t know what steps teams such as Australia or New Zealand have or haven’t made.

“This could be a major factor at the Olympics, you could get a lot of surprises, particularly in the group matches. For me, India is the perfect example of this, they have made huge improvements since last year.

Germany’s matches against India schedule to be held on May 22 have been postponed because of Covid issues. India’s other encounters against Spain and Great Britain scheduled in May have also been postponed. This is not only a setback for India but for their opponents too who in all probability were eager to size up their Asian opponents before the July’s Tokyo Olympics.

Of course, there are other teams who have been under the radar because of the rarity of international activities and that will be crucial according to Appel at the Tokyo Olympics especially in the pool stages.

Under head coach Kais Al Saadi, Germany have been blooding youngsters for the future – a strategy traditional to the country’s think-tank.

“For these two matches against Great Britain, we will be looking to maintain a high base level of performance, especially with a lot of new guys. It is important that they can all identify themselves within the team and we can get the mentality of playing for the German team as high as possible,” Appel asserted.

Germany are second in the table after leaders Belgium. They have 19 points from eight matches with a success percentage of 79.17. Belgium have 32 from 13 with 82.05.

Great Britain have just five points from eight matches at only 20.83 percentage success and are bottom of the nine-nation table.

In the women’s league, The Netherlands are well ahead of the pack with 29 points from 11 matches at 87.88%. Great Britain are fourth with 11 points from eight at 45.83%. Germany are fifth with 10 from six at 55.56%.

Percentage success may determine final standings if the league is further hampered by the pandemic.

The teams clash on both days at 2200hrs (IST). The women’s matches will be held at 0030 hrs (IST) on Thursday and Friday.