The Indian men’s hockey team are already fighting out in the FIH Hockey Pro League and recently, the International Hockey Federation confirmed that India will hoist Germany later this month. The Germans will face India in two matches in the Hockey Pro League scheduled on 14th and 15th April to be played at the iconic Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Odisha.
It will be very crucial for both teams as the Germans and the Men in Blue are neck and neck in the points table. However, the Indians have played more matches than the other teams in the top four and therefore winning against Germany will give them a moral edge over the others aswell though they will still have matches in hand.
The match between Germany and India were earlier scheduled to happen on 12th and 13th March. But the matches got postponed as some of the German players had contracted covid-19 and could not travel.
The last time India met Germany was at the bronze medal playoff match at the Tokyo Olympics where the Men in Blue defeated the Germans 5-4 to clinch the historic Bronze. They also broke the long jinx that existed and made Indian hockey dream again.
Welcoming the German Men’s Hockey Team’s decision to travel to India for the matches now scheduled on 14th and 15th April, Hockey India President Gyanendro Ningombam said, “As hosts, we are happy to welcome the German National Men’s Team to participate in the FIH Pro League matches here in Bhubaneswar, Odisha in April. No doubt, there is a lot of excitement among the Indian hockey fans to watch these two teams who played the Bronze Medal match at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020.”
The Germans have been in sublime form as they are second in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings. They have played eight matches and have had five outright wins, won one on shootout and have tasted defeat two times. Whereas India who are at the top of the standings have played 10 matches and have won six out of them. They have won one on the shootout and have also lost one on a shootout, other than bagging two outright defeats. So it will be very interesting to see if India will take the attack to Germany or will the visitors find a way past the Men in Blue.
