India vs Germany Highlights, Hockey Paris Olympics Semi Final: Harmanpreet Singh’s men left heartbroken as Germany reach final

While Vinesh Phogat's fight against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has received a lot of attention, the wrestler has also had to leap over her fair share of hurdles on her long journey to an Olympics medal at Paris 2024.

She's faced heartbreaks at two past Olympics: at Rio she left the mat on a stretcher and in tears. At Tokyo, there was disciplinary action initiated against her, which was later revoked. 

She's had two ACL and two elbow surgeries. But all through it all, her attitude was summed up best when she had just undergone surgery in 2021. In a post on social media announcing her elbow surgery, she wrote: “Elbow surgery done! No matter how many times I fall, I will still rise” 

On Vinesh Phogat's long comeback

What was it to like to watch that India vs Germany (an absolute cracker of a semifinal, all told) from the stadium? Our resident hockey tragic Mihir Vasavda had filed this report on the whistle:

"Before they gave themselves a chance to etch their names in the annals of Indian hockey, they played as if playing an ode to the legends of yore. This one will hurt. Not so much because India lost, but for the kind of hockey they played — scintillating at times, dazzling always, but peppered with costly mistakes — the Harmanpreet Singh-led side would feel they deserved more."

You can read it on our sports page.

Until Thursday 5pm, thanks for joining us.

Hardik Singh was lying down on his back and sobbing. PR Sreejesh crestfallen at missing out on a chance to play for gold. Harmanpreet dejected that India haven't been able to upgrade their Tokyo medal. Coach Craig Fulton speaks about the small margins of defeat after what he rightly called a great game of hockey. 

In the end, the emotions of Tokyo have been reversed. We saw Indians celebrating that day when the Germans lay on the turf. Today, the opposite. But just wind your back to the semifinal in Tokyo when India were rather outplayed by Belgium in the semifinal. Today, against the reigning world champions with one body less, they gave it their all. Sometimes, it can be an annoying cliche to say a losing team went down fighting. A defeat is a defeat. But in all honesty, this was no ordinary defeat. This came at the end of arguably one of the best performances we have seen in a high stakes knockout match from the Indian hockey team. This came at the end of an evening in Paris where 15 men gave it a really good go. Sport... it is sometimes cruel, like it was for the Indian hockey team tonight. It also gives us the high that a Vinesh Phogat can. It is why we watch it. 

Join us on Thursday, 5,30 pm IST for India vs Spain. It's been some day.

Here's a look at the full-time stats, as we take a breather. 

Former India captain Viren Rasquinha (Sports18); First of all, want to laud the performance of this Indian team today. They fought like crazy to the end. The PCs conversion weren't great but that was a great game of hockey. Sometimes sport is just heartbreaking. They gave it their all and they have to get ready for the bronze medal match. 

AND BREATHE! India, and Indian fans, must be gutted with that defeat... but let us just say that was A STUNNING GAME of hockey. 

TWO CHANCE FOR INDIA AT THE VERY END! Two aerials from deep in the final seconds lead to two chance for India... first shot is one target but deflected wide. The second shot, after a beautiful piece of control, takes a shot at goal... and it goes JUST OVER.

INDIA ARE CRESTFALLEN! GERMANY CELEBRATE! What a match of hockey that was.

India now have to play for bronze again. 

India rush like their lives depend on it and it is superbly defended without a goalkeeper! 

India have the ball now into the last minute. 

Horrible timing to concede possession with no goalkeeper in play and Germany have made a circle entry... a shot on goal is blocked by Germany want a PC... they review... and it is a PC!

And India DON'T HAVE A GOALKEEPER! All down to the rushers. 

That was a Pipo Inzaghi kind of goal, says Sandip G.

And now Sreejesh does come off. India will play the last 2 mins with 11 outfield players to try and get the third. 

Three minutes to go... Sreejesh will probably come off shortly. He even seems to be suggesting it but it is Germany ball at the moment. 

Into the last 3 minutes. 

India try to hit back right back. Hardik does superbly at the edge of the circle to find Sumit down the left flank and the reverse hit into the danger area is kicked out by a superb Danneberg. This is INCREDIBLY INTENSE at the moment. 

GOAL GERMANY. Peillat with a super pass from the left byline, Marco Miltkau is there just at the edge of India's goal to lift the ball in. So much space for Peillat there from a pass from middle. 

GERMANY LEAD IN 54th minute.

Here's a look at that block by Sanjay.

7 minutes to go in the match and India are unable to find any attacking outlet here. Remember, they are likely to be far more tired than Germany here. Given it is 15 v 16. 

SREEJESH SAVES! And after the Indian goalkeeper gets his foot down in time, the ball goes to his right and out rushes Harmanpreet to tackle the ball from behind with perfect timing. Remembers to take off his face mask as well so as to make sure there is not another PC. 

UFF, THIS IS TENSE! 

India put themselves under pressure from a simple defensive half court situation. That is really poor ball retention and in a second, Germany have a 2v2 situation. There is a shot on goal and Sreejesh comes up with a save. The ball is bobbling high, India deal with it... or have they? Germany make the review but the lobbed up ball is deemed to be dangerous. 

Germany have a PC. 

SANJAY WOW! That is a STUNNING piece of defensive work. Sreejesh has done his bit first to save from Peillat. It's a decent save, the ball is still in play though, Germany recycle it and then the ball comes to the far post with Sreejesh out of position. SANJAY THEN COMES UP WITH A BLOCK WITH HIS STICK! Germany had a near open goal there.

Oh boy. Harmanpreet concedes a PC after getting himself into a tangle. India review this asking whether there was a foul before the play. But the video umpire says no and India lose their referral. 

Here we go then, 15 minutes to decide who is guaranteed a medal and who has to pick themselves up and come back for a shot at bronze.

The third quarter comes to a close. Sukhjeet's goal from India's PC variation has made this a final quarter with everything to play for. 

As the commentator points out, all four goals have come either directly from PCs or a stroke that came off a PC. 

India are asking for PC for a 5m violation... but on review, turns out both teams have committed the foul. So India don't get the PC but they keep their referral as well. As we have seen often, keeping the referral can be so crucial in the final minutes of a tight game. 

Gotten a little cagey since the goal... neither side would want to do the next mistake here. We are into the last two minutes of the quarter. 

Sukhjeet Singh believes in miracles. His career, the forward insists, is one.

Today, he wheels away even before the ball reaches him, slipping past defenders, receiving, dodging, scoring and setting up his teammates. Six summers ago, he couldn’t even get out of his bed without someone’s help.

SUKHJEET SINGH! After the German PC defence have stood strong, India decide to try a variation and it works like a treat. Harman doesn't go for a big booming drag flick but instead almost fast-pushes the ball towards the left side and Sukhjeet Singh has made the right forward run to slide and lift the ball into the net. 

GAME ON. 

India have another PC and it is Abhishek this time who wins it. India have been a bit wasteful from PCs... can they convert? 

Rajkumar Pal, selected in the squad for his 1v1 skills and eliminating defenders, does well in the circle to win a PC. The drag flick by Harman is saved and Germany counter superbly! It is nearly a 3v1 overload for India... and there is Rajkumar again to prevent the counter. 

Here's a look at the match stats as India attack a bit more. 

A strong start to the 2nd half for India, Sukhjeet wins an early PC. Couple of takes for Harmanpreet, and off the 2nd one, Danneberg shows why he is one of the best in the world at the moment. A superb reflex save by the German goalkeeper. And he celebrates like he has scored a goal. 

Mihir Vasavda, who is in the stadium for the India vs Great Britain game, sends this update from the press box: FIFA president Gianni Infantino is sitting just behind India dugout.

From being 0-1 down  at the start of the second quarter, Germany are now leading 2-1 as we go into half-time. The Indians were almost unstoppable in the first quarter, earning seven PCs. But the second quarter belonged to the Germans, who played with precision and earned their goals via a dragflick and a penalty stroke. 

Half-time: India 1-2 Germany

Germany have turned it on in the 2nd quarter. Mistakes creeping into India's deep defence. The German intensity is just too much to handle for India at the moment, they need an outlet from somewhere. Can’t afford to soak up this much pressure, as much as they did so against GBR.

Germany earn a PC. Ball's sent to Germany's goalscorer Peillat on the first battery. His dragflick hits Jarman, who's on the left post. It's hits his pads, and the tv unpire judges that the ball was headed into the goal. So a stroke is awarded! 

Christopher Ruhr takes and slots a lot shot past Sreejesh's right foot. GOAL!

Quarter 2: India 1-2 Germany
 

Five minutes remaining in the first half, and it;s a lot more stop start now as compared to the first quarter. Lot more whistling from the ref being heard. 

India just have to be careful, they've already lost Amit Rohidas to a red card. They don't want to give away any mroe numerical advantages. 

Quarter 2: India 1-1 Germany

This is turning into a really messy physical battle now. One of the German players just a little while earlier tried to get Jarmanpreet a card with a little bit of cheekiness. Now Sumit is felled down the left flank by a coming together and India are not happy. The umpire is using his angry voice and telling Harmanpreet Singh “You can’t ask me for a card!"

Abhishek NEARLY scores another goal on the half turn. That would have been his third such goal of the tournament. Not to be for India. The 2nd quarter has been mostly Germany’s but that was a decent chance for India .

Germany have drawn level at 1-1!

Oh dear, that's completely against the run of play. Germany earn a PC. And Gonzalo Peillat slots his dragflick between the man on the post, Jarmanpreet Singh, and keeper Sreejesh. 

India came into the Q2 leading 1-0, thanks to captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring from a PC in the 8th minute. This was Harman's 7th goal in the Paris Olympics.

Finally Germany have a chance! They barge into India's striking circle for what feels like the first time in the match, and try a fast pass from the right flank. But there's no one to apply finishing touches to that cross. And the ball just flies past the face of the goal.

Quarter 2: India 1-0 Germany

What a quarter India have played! Seven penalty corners earned. One goal scored. And not even a single PC or goal conceded to Germany.

Here's what the first quarter looked like: 

BTW, that was goal no 24 for Harmanpreet Singh in 2024. Insane! 

He's already scored seven goals at the Paris Olympics. 

Four more PCs for India. Which means four more cracks at the German goal for Harmanpreet Singh. Each time the German rushers are getting to him before he can get a clean shot off. But finally on the fourth  PC, he gets a deflection and the ball loops into the goal

INDIA LEAD 1-0

Here’s a look at how the two teams have fared since the Tokyo bronze medal clash.

Abhishek and Hardik making a menace of themselves very early on. hardik breaks into the circle from the left and gets the ball to make contact with a foot. And we have the first PC of the game. And it's going to be India taking it. 

Barely a minute on the clock.

India tried a variation to catch the keeper off guard. But he gets his pads on the shot anyway. But Hardik reachs the ball, and once again earns a PC for India, This is India's second PC! And we're not yet two minutes in the game. 

This time, Harman takes a flick, which is stopped by the defending battery.

Quarter 1: India 0-0 Germany

Here we go. Pushback! The  Yves-du-Manoir Stadium is abuzz with noise. And clearly it's a majority of Indian fans.

Designed by the architect Louis Faure-Dujarric, Yves-du-Manoir Stadium is one of the rare stadiums that can boast of hosting the Olympic Games twice. 

It was the main venue for the eighth Olympiad in 1924, 100 years ago, where it staged the opening ceremony and athletics events. 

With a capacity of 15,000 people, the unique venue in France, it is the only one that will host the second Games in its history in 2024, staging the hockey competitions.

Until 1972, when the Parc des Princes was inaugurated, the Yves-du-Manoir multi-sports venue, named after a French rugby player, was the main stadium in the Paris Region. Located in Colombes, northwest of Paris, it has hosted around 250 national and international competitions over the past century, from athletics to rugby, football?and even boxing, including the World Championship in 1972, in front of 40,000 spectators.

Yves-du-Manoir Stadium has already been renovated several times, and the Hauts-de-Seine department, which owns this facility, will be launching a modernisation programme to benefit its communities, associations, schools and universities.

The Indian players are out in white kits while the Germans will play in all black kits. 

National anthem times. 

As the teams waited in the tunnel to come out, some of the Indian players looked very relaxed, in particular Manpreet Singh. 

Speaking of taking shots on the turn, one of India’s best players so far in Paris has been Abhishek who has scored not one but two superb goals in this manner. Here’s an article about his goals against Belgium and Australia.

READ MORE

Here’s how the knockout draw looks like for men’s hockey. Belgium and Australia lost in the quarterfinals, the two finalists from Tokyo. Netherlands today thrashed Spain (who had defeated Belgium) 4-0 and have reached the gold medal match. Who will join the Dutch?

Speaking to The Indian Express earlier this year, one of the things that coach Craig Fulton said that India will be working on in the lead-up to Paris was about how the forwards take their shots in the circle. 

“A lot of the time Indian players like to face the goal to score goals while a lot of the Europeans, don’t face the goal to take shots. They have their back towards the goal and they’re hitting through the defender. It’s very difficult to defend,” the South African had said.

“We are trying to obviously improve both sides of this, where you can still be able to get in the D and get your shot away. Or you connect with another striker, not with a shot but with a pass. The closer you get to the goal the less time you have to score. So you’re not necessarily looking for a big backswing, a big hit. It’s all flicking and pushing. And double movements like 1v1 against the goalkeeper. The kind of moves where your back is towards the goal, but you’re still able to twist and turn to try and find the target. This takes time.”

Like an Avenger grabbing his gears before flying off to protect the planet, PR Sreejesh takes his helmet, picks up his stick, hangs the heavily padded glove on it and swaggers onto the field to save his team. He smiles at his teammates; and stares in the direction of the opponents.

This walk, the 25 steps from the dugout to the goal, is when the showman transforms into a saviour.

Read Mihir Vasavda's piece on how Sreejesh saved India and took them to the semis

Mihir Vasavda, who is in the stadium for the India vs Great Britain game, sends these two photographs from earlier in the day and sends this update from the press box: "Indians warm up with cricket, Germans, football."

India's philosophy under new coach Craig Fulton has to be Defend to Win.

The Indian men's hockey team first showcased impressive resilience and tactical acumen in their closely contested match against defending champions Belgium at the Paris Olympics. But despite a valiant effort, the team fell short of securing a victory.

Coach Craig Fulton's emphasis on strong defensive foundations proved crucial in containing the Belgian attack. India's ability to withstand pressure and create scoring opportunities demonstrated significant growth in their overall game. The team's performance against Belgium served as a confidence booster ahead, where they beat Australia first time in 52 years and then held on with 10 men for over 40 minutes against GB before prevailing in a shootout.

With a focus on defensive solidity and counter-attacking opportunities, the Indian hockey team has shown promising signs of improvement.

READ VINAYAKK'S PIECE

"In the 17th minute of the quarterfinal against Britain, it did happen. Going shoulder to shoulder in a battle for possession with Will Calnan, Amit Rohidas raised his stick dangerously and it hit the Brit on his head. Calnan fell to the ground and the umpire brandished the Indian defender a red card — only the fourth time in the last 11 years that a player has been sent off at a major tournament," writes Mihir Vasavda in his analysis of the India vs Great Britain game. 

India went on to win, 4-2 via penalty shootouts, but it wasn’t before they were put through a whole lot of adversity. India of old would have probably crumbled in such a situation. But on Sunday, at the sun-bathed Stade Yves-du-Manoir, they showed tactical dexterity not commonly associated with the Indian team.

Mihir, The Indian Express' man on the ground in Paris covering the Olympics, was present at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium for the India vs Great Britain game. Click here to read his analysis of one of the best hockey matches played by the men's team in recent history. 

Harmanpreet Singh’s men take on reigning world champions Germany in what promises to be another tough contest. India will be without the suspended Amit Rohidas, after he was handed a red card for a stick to the face of a GB player in the quarters. 

hello and welcome to our live coverage of the India vs Germany hockey match. It's a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal contest that India won famously in Tokyo.