Hockey, FIH Junior World Cup: Indian women’s team go down fighting against Germany 1-3, quarterfinal hopes hang in the balance

But the relief wouldn’t last long. Goalkeeper Nidhi came forward to thwart a German forward and ended up taking a swipe that brought the opponent down and led to a penalty stroke that Lena Frerichs converted.

After some end-to-end action for the rest of the half, Nidhi was once more judged guilty of bringing a German player down unfairly – even though India could have overturned the stroke if they had reviewed on time. But this time, Frerichs hit it well over the crossbar.

India were just about in the game at halftime, trailing by a goal. After three quarters, the score remained 0-1, which kept India in the hunt to at least snatch a point.

But a goalmouth scramble early in the fourth quarter led to Annika Schoenhoff being found in space at the far post. India had a couple of desperate attempts to clear the ball away but the German overload led to the all-important goal.

To India’s credit, they kept up the attacking pressure in the closing stages of the match. A series of penalty corners eventually paid off as India executed a superb routine. From a low hit from the top of the circle by Puja Sahoo, Hina Bano got her stick down in time to deflect the ball over the goalkeeper. The goal gave India hope of snatching a late equaliser. But India’s penalty corner defence was breached once again as Martina Reisenegger scored from close range after Nidhi made a sharp save to her left. The rebound fell kindly to Reisenegger, who still had a lot to do, and shifted the ball side-to-side and then lifted it smarly into the net. It was the final blow to India’s hopes.

Germany’s 29 circle entries compared to India’s 11, and 9 shots on target versus 4 signified the difference between the two sides. India simply didn’t find enough connections between the midfield and forward line.

How can India still make the quarterfinals?

The defeat means India now have to beat Ireland, first of all, to reach six points, and then hope to have a superior goal difference across all teams that finish second across the six groups. India’s goal difference after two matches is a healthy +11, but if any team reaches 7 points in the other groups, it could prove to be a further blow for India.

As per this format, six group-winners automatically qualify for the last eight, while the two best teams among the six second-place finishers complete the line-up.