Spirited Indians holds Olympic Champions to 1-1 draw

After a 3-0 thrashing by Argentina in the last match, India went into the match against Olympic champions Germany with the hope of making a comeback into the tournament. Germany led the head-to-head between the teams with seven wins in last ten matches, while India have won only thrice. With the hosts facing a stern test against the German side, Indian coach Roelant Oltmans brought more solidity to his side by changing the formation from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3. SV Sunil, Raghunath and Dharmvir Singh started on the bench as Manpreet, Amir and Birendra Lakhra came into the starting lineup.

Germany went ahead in the sixth minute with an amazing run by Oruz Timur down the right wingwhich opened up the Indian defence. Timur picked out Niklas Wellen in front of the goal for an easy tap-in. India were saved from further embarrassment in first quarter by saves from PR Sreejesh.

India pushed the Germans really hard in the second quarter in search of an equaliser. With one goal in the bank, Germany defended with resilience to protect the lead.

Germans went down to ten men in the 26 minute with Ruhr receiving a green card for foul. However, the Germans defended admirably to deny the Indians of an equaliser.

India started the second half by winning a penalty corner in the first minute. Rupinder Pal Singh’s drag-flick came back of the post and reached Ramandeep Singh. With the goal in his sighthe slipped at the crucial moment and the chance went begging. With India wasting the video referral in the second quarter, the hosts were left with no choice but to accept the Umpire’s decision on the ball crossing the line, although the replay showed otherwise.

India started the fourth quarter in amazing fashion, scoring the equalizing goal in the second minute of the quarter. A pass from Manpreet found Akasheep in the shooting circle and a reverse flick from the forward found its way into the goal.

With scores level at 1-1, India pushed ahead in search of a winner. But their hopes took a blow when they went down to 10 men with Ramandeep Singh receiving a five-minute suspension. Ending the match properly has always been India’s Achilles' heel and the crowd at Raipur were praying for the Indian defence and they did held their nerves to finish the match at 1-1.