India vs Germany Hockey Match: Germany defeated Indian men's hockey team 2-0

On Wednesday, the Indian men's hockey team played disappointingly against the team of Germany at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. The German team are Paris Olympics 2024 silver medalist as well as the world champion. In the first match of the two-match bilateral series, India lost 0-2 to Germany.

Heinrich Mertens put Germany ahead in the fourth minute and captain Lucas Wendfeider extended the lead in the 30th minute. Eventually, that proved to be the winning score for the Germans. Rajinder Singh made his international debut for the Indian men's hockey team in this match. Now the second match of the series will be played on Thursday.

As the match started, Germany entered the Indian circle in an attacking note. Heinrich Mertgens' first goal came up in the fourth minute against Krishan Pathak in the shooting circle. India too fought hard to beat this German pressure and won the penalty corner, but Varun Kumar couldn't equalize in the first half.

India was on the offensive in the second quarter, getting three penalty corners, but Sanjay, Amit, and Harmanpreet failed to score off these. Three minutes from the end of the second quarter, another stroke opportunity came for India, but the German goalkeeper foiled the goal of Indian Captain Harmanpreet Singh and kept his team in the lead.

The match was very tough between the two teams in the third quarter. Though India managed to get a penalty corner in this quarter too, but the already alert German goalkeeper neutralized Harmanpreet's attempt.

Just with the start of the final quarter, Germany wanted to extend their lead, but Amit Rohidas was there to jump in and keep the danger away. At other end, India's patient possession continued in search of their first goal while their opponents were not giving them scope to create scoring opportunities. The match ended 2-0 in favour of Germany