The Indian women’s hockey team will look to end their World Cup campaign on a high when they face Germany in the fifth-sixth place classification match at Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen on Thursday.Having played five matches so far, India have won one, drawn three and lost only once — against hosts Netherlands. It has been an impressive campaign for a team that looked out of sorts last year, and coach Sjoerd Marijne has been more than pleased with the progress his wards have made.“I told the girls, ‘If I had told you six months ago that we would play a quarterfinal against Australia at the World Cup and draw 0-0, would you have believed it?’ I don’t think, considering the position they were in six months ago, they would have believed it,” said Marijne in a video released by Hockey India.Indeed, India have produced a fascinating campaign, with almost everyone contributing at different stages. The only glaring gap has been their inability to convert chances into goals consistently — something that eventually ended their hopes of reaching the semifinals.“We have really made good progress, and it’s not easy to score goals against these teams. The basis of our game is our defence, and we do that really well,” Marijne said.Apart from their games against China and South Africa, India failed to score against England, Netherlands and Australia. It was not for a lack of opportunities, but rather their inability to make those chances count when it mattered most.That will once again be put to the test against Germany, coached by a familiar face in former India head coach Janneke Schopman.Germany, too, have been through a transition since the Paris Olympics and could not make the semifinals after losing their two crucial matches against Argentina and Belgium. They did, however, win three matches across the two rounds, while scoring 13 goals in the process.Their ability to find the net has been one of their biggest positives, but breaking down India’s defence could prove a different challenge.Schopman knows this Indian team well from her time as their head coach and is likely to have plenty of insight into how to exploit their weaknesses. However, India have shown they can be extremely difficult to break down when they get their defensive structure right.England had 20 shots on goal and 12 penalty corners in their 0-0 draw with India, while Australia managed 13 shots and five penalty corners in India’s last game. Neither could find a way past the Indian defence.Speaking about the Australia match, Marijne said, “We evaluated the game with the team, and sometimes these things happen in a process. Sometimes you take a step back to make two steps forward. But again, we didn’t lose; we just didn’t win.”India may not be playing for a medal, but Thursday’s game offers them one final opportunity to underline the progress they have made at the World Cup.A strong finish against Germany would also give the team valuable confidence heading into the Asian Games, where a gold medal would bring with it a direct qualification spot for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
