Lucas Windfeder's Germany proved to be too good on the day for India as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the two-match bilateral series at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi with a 2-0 win in the opener. Germany took an early lead in the fourth minute with Henrik Mertgens finding the net pretty early on and the hosts seemed to be chasing the game from then on. India did get multiple chances through penalty corners and even a penalty stroke in the 28th minute, however, Harmanpreet Singh and Co remained goalless throughout the 60-minute duration of the game.
India to their credit kept the ball in their possession for a huge part of the game, however, they couldn't thread the German defence. India failed to convert a penalty corner in the first quarter. However, this was just the beginning of a horror evening for the Indian offence as the hosts kept missing the penalty corners.
The second quarter saw the Indian team get as many as four penalty corners within seven minutes but they couldn't convert any, including the one taken by the captain Harmanpreet Singh. India converted one in the 27th minute through Dilpreet Singh but Germany took a video referral.
The video referral gave India a penalty stroke and the German keeper Joshua Onyekwue despite diving on the wrong side, extended his leg to deny India as the trecherous run for the hosts as far as conversion continued. To add to India's misery, Germany converted their penalty corner in the wee hours of the second quarter to take a 2-0 lead as captain Windfeder found the net this time around.
The last two quarters almost seemed like a wait towards the inevitable. There were a couple of chances created but to no avail as Germany proved to be too strong in the end. India will need to come back with a better planning to be able to get past this German defence.
Teo Hinrichs was named the player of the match and the two sides will be back on the field again in less than 24 hours for the decider.
