The Indian men’s hockey team is looking to fine-tune some of their skills as they face off against a second-string young German team in a double header in FIH Pro League at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday and Friday.
With the European Hockey League going on, most of the senior German players haven’t made the trip and as many as 12 youngsters, set to make their debut, have come down for the two matches.
Speaking on what the team is looking to focus on during the two matches, vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh said, “Germany are very good defensively. So, keeping that in mind the forwards have been working on their 3D skills and are planning to implement that over the two matches.”
“We are also practising our turning skills. It’s when you block the ball and spin and go past the defender. It’s something that the European teams are quite good at. You have to control your speed and maintain eye contact with the forwards,” added the drag-flicker who scored a hat-trick in India’s 4-3 win over England in the last match.
Harmanpreet, however, isn’t too concerned about the inexperienced German side and wants to just focus on themselves. India currently sit at the top of the table with 21 points from 10 matches.
“We don’t think about who our opponent is, whether it’s a young team or an experienced one, we just want to do well as a team and improve our performance with every game,” he said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Germany, second with 17 points from eight matches, meanwhile, go into the double header as the challenger not only because of their inexperience but also because of the conditions. As their coach André Henning said during a virtual press conference, the team came down from zero degree to 40 degree Celsius. But despite the challenges, the coach is looking to get the players gain as much as experience as possible.
“It’s most probably one of the youngest German team ever and it will be a huge challenge even to earn a point over the two matches. So, the main focus will be learning, developing and gaining some experience,” said Henning.
While the team is mostly made up of newcomers, they do have four seniors in the team including their captain Martin Zwicker, who has played as many as 265 international matches. How he controls the team in the middle will surely play a major role behind Germany’s fate over the two matches.
