Pressure engulfs Indian colts, let Germany relish Chennai ambience

K. Arumugam

Germany played a master class hockey to easily overcome the hosts and enter the final once more. Germany, which has Indian Olympic like record in the Junior World Cup domain, displayed such a precision and press that the Indians had no clue or answer. Their usually alert and inform goalie Prince Deep Singh and his replacement Bikramjit Singh gave away easily goals, rushing up early to let the hawkish Germany up the ante.

Both India and Germany had scare in their quarters, scrapping their rivals through shoot out. India was happy to get three strokes in the process but today it was the Germany whose stroke in the last moments of first quarter left the Indians high and dry.

Never in the last three decades had a Germany team beat India the way they did. Ironically, India built its Junior programs on the altar of Germany when it defeated them in the semi-final of the 1997 Milton Keyness Junior World Cup, that too in the semis (4-3). They lost to Germany in the last Junior World Cup but by a 1-3 margin and now way the contest was one-sided.

The match was even for almost the first 10, 12 minutes, but the wind chaned its course when an Indian defender put the stick between the legs of speeding Germany forward far away from the circle, leading to a penalty corner. It had become a stroke when the deflected drag-flick ball hit the body of postman in the cage. It was duly converted. Within seconds, India conceded a field goal. In fact, these two goals came in the space of 67 seconds from the end of Q1. Similarly, Germany went ahead in the dying seconds of second qtr too. The 3-0 halftime score told how the hosts were outpaced and outplayed.

Indians appeared a disjointed lot, perhaps they were too busy in the defence and the midfield. The forwardline as a consequence suffered. There were many passes that swayed into the circle, but there were none to receive. For a team that had been trained for the last one year, such a show did not merit a class hockey.

Prince Deep Singh, who again did a good job in the beginning, committed some avoidable errors which was punished. When once he charged early to stop of one-to-one situation on the left side of the top circle, he could not. The clever and alert forward just scooped the ball into the top net. Same way his replacement Bikramjit Singh also did.

Both the goals certainly became too much for India to bear and battle against. Unbelievable to see the way goals were conceded by a team trained by a goalkeeper.

India will now take on Argentina for the bronze.

Argentina gave a tough battle against Spain but two quick silver goals, certainly questionable, undid them. They got a penalty corner just two seconds before the hooter but it did not stand the video umpire’s scrutiny.

The Indians can still play a good game and get the bronze, which would erase today’s off day.

the 1-5 loss will haraunge Indians for long.

Anmol Ekka (51′) scored for India while Lukas Kossel (14′, 30′), Titus Wex (15′), Jonas von Gersum (40′) and Ben Hasbach (49′) were the goalscorers for Germany.

MATCH DETAILS

Germany started the first quarter strong, as they were aggressive in their press, forcing India to play in their own half. India initially did well to sustain the pressure and build from the back however, they couldn’t create a clear opportunity on goal. In the third minute itself, Germany were through on goal as Justus Warweg made a strong interception in a dangerous area however, Indian goalkeeper Princedeep Singh did well to step out and make an incredible save early on.

In the 14th minute, Germany won the first Penalty Corner as Quirin Nahr took a shot which was stopped by Ankit Pal’s body right in front of goal and the visitors were awarded a Penalty Stroke. The stroke was successfully converted by Lukas Kossel (14′) as Germany gained a crucial lead. Just a minute later, India conceded another unfortunate goal as Titus Wex’s (15′) pass inside the circle, met an unlucky deflection off of Sunil Palakshappa Bennur’s foot as the ball rolled into the goal to end the first quarter.

India did well to regroup and improve their overall gameplay in the second quarter. They held more possession of the ball, controlled the midfield a lot better and made some crucial circle entries however, they couldn’t test the German goalkeeper. Right before half time, Germany won their second Penalty Corner of the evening which was successfully converted by Lukas Kossel (30′) again as he slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to further add to Germany’s advantage.

India’s first good attempt on goal came in the 34th minute as Ajeet Yadav did well to beat two German defenders with his skill and took a powerful shot towards goal but goalkeeper Jasper Ditzer made a strong save to deny India a goal. Two minutes later, Germany won another Penalty Corner but this time, Captain Paul Glander’s flick went off-target. In the 40th minute Indian attacker Arshdeep Singh made a strong dribble on the left flank and made his way along the baseline with his 3D skills but couldn’t get past the charging German goalkeeper. Seconds later, Jannik Enaux dribbled down the middle and passed it ahead to Alec von Schwerin through the Indian defence as he chipped the ball past the Indian goalkeeper towards goal and Jonas von Gersum (40′) tapped it into the open net to claim Germany’s fourth goal.

Four minutes into the fourth quarter, Germany played a long aerial pass over the Indian defence to Ben Hasbach (49′) as he dribbled around Princedeep Singh and scored. Moments later, India won their first Penalty Corner and successfully converted it to score their first goal. After the injection, Captain Rohit played a smart pass to Anmol Ekka (51′), catching the German players off guard as he took a powerful shot and found the net. Germany fell back onto their defence for the remainer of the game as India did their best to find one more, but couldn’t make a breakthrough again.

India will face Argentina in the 3rd/4th Place match on 10th  December 2025.