India were quite poor in the opening match of the Hockey World League Final against Argentina on Friday, falling to a tame 3-0 loss, and the home team will hope to bounce back when they play Germany in Raipur on Saturday.
No matter how you look at it, India were not up to the mark against Argentina, with the South Americans looking like they had a better gameplan and executing it to perfection.
The 3-0 result in the end could have been a lot worse for India, and they need to put up a better show against more stiffer competition in Germany.
"For me the result is not important, for me what is important is performance and today our performance was by far below-par the level that we normally can show," India coach Roelant Oltmans was quoted as saying by PTI. "The performance was really insufficient today.
"If they continue to commit such errors in the rest of the tournament then it's a serious concern. What I saw [against Argentina] I don't want to see it anymore.
"From my point of view we didn't stick to our game. Argentina is a team who likes to defend and rely on fast counter attacks. They didn't allow us to come to their circle too often apart from the fourth quarter. Argentina was clearly the better side."
The key in that match was the early goal. Argentina got it via a penalty corner, and after that they could sit back, absorb any pressure – there wasn't too much – and go quickly to the other end on counter-attacks.
India need to be a little more vigilant in the opening stages of the game and ensure they don't give away silly penalty corners, which puts their backs to the walls and allows their opponents to execute their plans.
Germany is a much stronger opposition than Argentina, and having played out a goalless draw against the Netherlands on Friday, the European side will be keen to get their first victory of the HWL Final.
"I think the players know they can play better than what they showed," Oltmans added. "When you play the first match of the tournament you want to play your best hockey.
"Now we play Germany, another tough match. Germany is a very strong and we have a very tough pool."
Where to Watch Live
Get the final score and report HERE
India vs Germany is set to begin at 6:30 pm local time (1pm GMT, 8 am ET). Live TV coverage of the match in India will be on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports HD. Viewerscan also watch the Hockey World League match by live streaming online on starsports.com and Hotstar.
UK viewers can watch all the action live on BT Sports, with live stream option on Watch BT Sport.
Audience in Australia can watch India vs Germany live on Fox Sports and Foxtel. Willow TV will broadcast the game live in the US, while the action can also be live streamed on Willow TV Online.
