Junior Hockey World Cup: Germany dash defending champions India’s hopes

Bhubaneswar: Defending champions India’s dream of a second consecutive FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup title was shattered on Friday as six-time winners Germany defeated the hosts 2-4 here. Germany will meet Argentina in the summit clash of the premier tournament. The Indians, who last won the Junior World Cup title in Lucknow in 2016, […]

Bhubaneswar: Defending champions India’s dream of a second consecutive FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup title was shattered on Friday as six-time winners Germany defeated the hosts 2-4 here.

Germany will meet Argentina in the summit clash of the premier tournament. The Indians, who last won the Junior World Cup title in Lucknow in 2016, looked a pale shadow of themselves against Germany. The Germans scored through Erik Kleinlein (15th minute), Aron Flatten (21st), skipper Hannes Muller (24th) and Christopher Kutter (25th).

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For India, Uttam Singh (25th) and Boby Singh Dhami (60th) were the goal getters. India will play France in the third-fourth place classification match on Sunday, before the final. India had earlier lost 4-5 against France in the pool stages. The Indians’ game on Friday was in stark contrast to the way they played against Belgium in the quarterfinals. While their defence was extraordinary in the last match, the backline was caught napping by the Germans.

There was no cohesion between the midfield and forwardline with Uttam showing his brilliance in patches. The Germans were the better side on display in the first quarter and pressed the Indian defence from the word go. Maximillian Siegburg missed a golden opportunity to take the lead for Germany as he failed to connect a loose ball in the far post with an open goal in front.

In the next minute Germany secured their first penalty corner but India goalkeeper Prasanth Chauhan made a fine save. Instead of going full throttle, India preferred to play half-press and utilised the flanks to build their attacks, but they faltered in stopping and trapping the ball in wet pitch conditions.

Germany, instead, played better under the constant drizzle compared to the hosts and took the lead just 25 seconds from the end of first quarter. Kleinlein scored from a rebound from Germany’s second penalty corner after the initial flick was saved by Prasanth. Five seconds from the first break India secured a penalty corner but vice-captain Sanjay Kumar failed to find the back of the net.

Germany continued to press hard for the second goal and dominated the proceedings in the second quarter too. Six minutes into the second quarter Germany once again caught the Indian defence napping and doubled their lead through Flatten. Minutes later the Germans surged 3-0 ahead when skipper Muller found the back of the Indian net to the right of Pawan with a reverse hit from the top of the circle.

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