The Indian men's hockey team have made it to the Olympics semifinal again. The last time they made back-to-back semifinals was back in 1968 and 1972. Reaching the semifinals in the sport's toughest competition is no mean feat. The men's team will now aim to go a step further and make it to a final, which they haven't done since 1980 - also the last time they won the gold medal.
Who stands in their way? Germany, the world champions and the best team at this Olympics.
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When is the match?
The match will take place on Tuesday, August 6, and it will start at 10:30 PM IST.
The big picture
This Indian team will be full of confidence and belief. They qualified for the quarterfinals despite not being at their best. They finished second in the group after defeating Australia with an impressive attacking display and then they overcame the Great Britain challenge in a shootout after playing with 10 men for almost three quarters.
Not one player from the team had a bad game against the Aussies and Great Britain. In both games, in completely different circumstances, the Indian players stepped up and beat the two big teams who were among the favourites for the medals. India have fully deserved their place in the semifinals.
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But beating Germany in this form will take another special effort. They suffered an early loss in the group stage against Spain but since then have made massive improvements and have been unstoppable. They finished the group on top after beating the likes of Netherlands and Great Britain and then defeated a spirited Argentina to reach the semifinals.
The best aspect of this German team is that they don't depend on one style or a couple of players to make a difference. They are so good at open play that they have scored 14 field goals, more than any other team at this Olympics. They have scored just three penalty corner goals but that was out of 13 chances, which makes them the second best in the penalty corner success strike rate.
They have outstanding forwards on the field, who create and as well as score -- Niklas Wellen and Justus Weigand have scored four and three field goals respectively. They also have world class dragflickers in Gonzalo Peillat and Christopher Ruhr, who have scored seven goals between them, which includes three field goals as well. Even in defence, they have conceded just eight goals in six matches, the joint-lowest in the tournament, alongside India.
Their all-round game is the best in the business and the players have the experience of winning a big tournament -- the World Cup in India last year. They hit eight goals past France, then stopped the Netherlands from scoring, then weathered a final quarter storm from Great Britain to register a win and then scored a winning goal late in the fourth quarter in the quarterfinal against Argentina.
So, India need to come up with another perfect performance against a powerful side. The key for India will be to ensure Germany don't score early on and run away with the match. That's what Spain did against the Germans. Max Caldas's side made it difficult for Germany to score goals in open play and then took their chances to register a 2-0 win.
The Germans have won every game in which they have scored first; they generally start really quick. The opening goals against the Dutch, South Africa, France and Argentina all came within the opening 10 minutes.
Key players
For Germany, it has to be Wellen. One of the most lethal attacking players in the world, Wellen can make a big difference with his relentless workrate, ability to create chances and score crucial goals. He was the best player at the World Cup last year and he's continuing his big tournament impact at this Olympics as well.
There's also Peillat with his dragflicks and Mats Grambusch, the inspirational midfield general and captain of the team. In big matches, both players raise their level and usually deliver for their team.
For India, the obvious names are PR Sreejesh and Harmanpreet Singh, but in the absence of Amit Rohidas (whose one-match suspension India have appealed), Sumit will become the most important defender. Against Great Britain, Sumit was a rock and thwarted multiple attacking opportunities to keep India in the match.
Stats
Head-to-head: India have played 18 matches against Germany since 2018, winning eight and losing six. The rest were draws.
India have won seven of the last eight matches against Germany, but the one loss was the most recent clash between the two sides, during the FIH Pro League in June.
Ruhr has scored seven goals in 15 matches this year for Germany. Whenever he has scored, Germany have won.
What they said?
Christopher Ruhr: "India is going to be hell of a game. I mean, they got the red card and worked their way through to the shootout, which is extraordinary. And yeah, we've got to be there. And if we were there, we're going to win, but we've got to show up."
Craig Fulton after the win over Great Britain: "We've been talking about defence for 14 months and we dug deep and Sree [Sreejesh] was immense. When you talk about defence, it's also about showing your love for your teammate by covering him and helping him. And Sreejesh did that for us and we did that for him."