Hockey World League Final: India held to a draw by late Germany goal

India finished their group phase with a 3-3 draw against Olympic champions Germany. India were robbed of their first win in the tournament by a late goal from Thilo Stralkowski.

The Indians led three times through the course of the match, but were ultimately pegged back on each occasion by the Germans.

After a very scrappy opening 10 minutes, India earned the first penalty corner of the match, but Raghunath’s strike drew an excellent save from the German keeper. The Germans soon earned a penalty corner of their own, but Sreejesh in the Indian goal pulled off a magnificent save himself to keep the scores level.

India took the lead through an own goal by Germany keeper Tim Jessulat, though it was mainly due to a timely deflection by VR Raghunath off a free hit. But Germany leveled almost immediately as captain Oliver Korn deflected a penalty corner attempt into goal. As the first half approached its finish, things got frantic and the India earned another penalty corner which Raghunath hit straight at the keeper. India would finally break their duck from penalty corners with the third penalty corner of the game, as Rupinder Pal Singh converted with aplomb.

That was the first penalty corner conversion for India in this tournament after six attempts.

Coming out in the second half, the Germans looked for the equalizer early and on 43 minutes they did get it through what was later adjudged as an own goal. Arnold Pitt hit a long-range shot into the circle which took a deflection of a German stick and then an Indian stick on its way past Sreejesh.

India responded by upping the pace and the midfield and India’s forward line began to cause some problems for the German defence. Captain Sardar Singh came into his own and initiated quite a few lovely forays including one that featured a lovely solo run from midfield where he beat three players before passing to Dharamvir Singh who laid it off to Walmiki, only for the youngster to hit it high over goal.

In the 52nd minute, India took the lead once again, as Walmiki was fouled inside the circle which led to the award of a penalty corner. Raghunath’s effort was padded away by Jessulat, but Dharamvir, who had pushed the ball in for the corner, was there to pounce on the rebound and rattle it home.

With about 12 minutes to go, India had a golden chance to put some daylight between them and their opponents, but SV Sunil missed a glorious opportunity from just a few yards out with the goalkeeper completely beaten, after some good work by Sardar and himself to force a turnover and create the counter opportunity.

With the game nearing its end, and Germany not really looking threatening, Raghunath received a yellow for an obstruction with just about 3 minutes left. And that, along with Sunil’s costly miss, came back to bite India in the end as some calamitous defending, with none other than Sardar responsible for a costly error, allowing Stralkowski to capitalize on the error and beat Sreejesh.

It was a complete defensive breakdown as even Sreejesh was culpable of having been beaten too easily at the near post.

A win would have meant India finished third, ahead of New Zealand who were beaten comprehensively by Engalnd 5-1 earlier in the day. But the draw confines them to fourth place and gets them a clash with Australia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The Indians played much better in the third game, with improvements evident in the penalty corner department and the forward line and midfield constantly put the Germans under pressure. Sardar too, save the error in the end, probably had his best game so far.

It will be interesting to see what India can do against Australia where Indian coach Terry Walsh will go up against a former Olympic teammate of his in Ric Charlesworth, who is coaching the Aussies.