Brushing aside the disappointing show against Argentina in the tournament opener, hosts India produced a much-improved performance as they held Olympic champions Germany to a 1-1 draw in their second Pool B match of the Hockey World league (HWl) Final, here on Saturday.
Although India were by far the better side on display, it was the Germans, who struck first in the sixth minute through a field goal from Niklas Wellen.
The hosts then put relentless pressure on a strong German defence that crumbled in the 47th minute when Akashdeep Singh restored parity.
Contrary to Germany’s lead, India were the dominant force in the first half. The hosts enjoyed superior ball possession and also had the much higher number of shots at the goal than their opposition.
India’s first real scoring chance came in the third minute when Chinglensana Singh came close to giving India the lead but his feeble push from inside the circle was easily padded away by the German goalie Andreas Spack.
The Germans were bang on target with their first attack and took the lead against the run of play in the next minute, courtesy serious defensive lapse from the Indians.
Mathias Muller went past three Indian players from the right flank to set it up for Wellen, who struck with ease to give Germany the lead.
India continued to exert pressure on the German defence and in the process earned their first penalty corner two minutes into the third quarter of the game.
The resultant flick from Rupinder Pal Singh ricocheted off the post in front of an unmarked Ramandeep Singh, who failed to properly connect on the rebound.
India’s relentless pressure, however, bore fruit in the 47th minute when Akashdeep equalised with a fine reverse hit to the left of the German goalkeeper after receiving an assist from Manpreet Singh.
By virtue of this draw, India opened their account in the tournament while the Germans registered their second consecutive draw after their goalless finish against Netherlands on Friday.
‘We Stuck to our gameplan’
India’s chief coach Roelant Oltmans was a “proud” man after his side played out a 1-1 draw against Germany, especially after the disappointing 0-3 loss to Argentina in opening match of HWl.
“We discussed what happened yesterday and we made amends for that today. The team showed a lot of energy which we were lacking yesterday. We made less unforced errors than yesterday, especially at the start of the game. The team stuck to their gameplan till the last minute today,” the Dutchman, who is also the High Performance Director of Indian hockey, said at the post-match press conference.
“Sometimes you need small results like this to show that this is the way we have to work. I am proud in the manner they recovered so close after yesterday’s disappointing game. We kept fighting to score a goal. We had more chances. The team really had done very well. This is the start. I said yesterday that one defeat is not a disaster in a tournament like this.”
He praised midfielder Manpreet Singh who created the opportunity from which Akashdeep Singh scored in the 47th minute to level the scores. “Manpreet from the first minute showed the desire of the team today,” he said.
Winning start for Aus, Britain
World champions Australia eked out a narrow 1-0 win over Belgium while Great Britain spanked defeated Canada 3-1 in Pool A matches of HWl Final here on Saturday.
legendary striker Jamie Dwyer scored a brilliant field goal in the 2nd minute to hand world No 1 Australia their first win in the tournament.
Earlier, Great Britain beat Canada 3-1 to open their campaign o a positive note.
Great Britain struck an early goal through a field effort from Simon Mantell (2nd minute) to take the lead.
But Canada equalised within two minutes through a field goal from Mark Pearson to make it 1-1.
The British side, however, scored two more field goals within two minutes in the second quarter to make the scoreline 3-1 in their favour.
Meanwhile in Pool B, defending champions Netherlands defeated Argentina 3–2 in a closely fight duel.