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The Indian women continue their Five-Nations Hockey Tournament campaign with a game against Germany on Tuesday (December 19).
The event, which is a vital preparatory for the Women in Blue ahead of the Olympic qualifiers next month, has witnessed them losing both matches thus far.
The Indians fell 2-3 to Spain before going down to Belgium by a slender 1-2 margin. They have a couple of matches on hand against Germany and Ireland in the Five-Nations Hockey tournament in Valencia.
Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke scored for the Indians with four minutes left on the clock after Ambre Ballenghien and Louise Versavel had given the Belgians a 2-0 lead at the Five-Nations Hockey Tournament on December 16.
Despite getting the better of formidable teams like England and Australia since 2018, the Indian women have yet to get a measure of the Germans.
Back in 2021, the Indians travelled to Germany losing all four tour matches. After being outplayed by a 0-5 margin in the first game, they lost the second tour game 0-1.
A 0-2 defeat followed in the third match before the Indians finally managed to score a goal en route to a 1-2 loss in the final match.
Goals from Nike Lorenz and Anne Schroder helped the Germans to a flawless 2-0 victory over India in the group stages of the 2021 Olympics.
Janneke Schopman's team toured Germany earlier this year, losing the first match 1-4 and the second by a 0-2 margin.
Interestingly, the Indians advanced further than the Germans did at the 2021 Olympics despite losing to them in the pool stages.
How have the Indians fared on the world stage as compared to Germany in the recent past?
The Indians who made history by advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2018 FIH Women's World Cup did not take on Germany during the course of the competition in London.
While India suffered a heartbreaking 1-3 loss to Ireland in the shootouts, the Germans too went down in the quarterfinal stage to Spain 0-1.
Despite losing to Germany in the group stages of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Indians went all the way to the semifinals before being beaten 1-2 by Argentina.
The Germans, on the other hand, were walloped 0-3 by Argentina in the quarterfinal stage.
At the 2022 Women's World Cup, the Indians lost to Spain 0-1 in the crossover stage. On the other hand, Germany made their way to the semifinals before losing to Ar̥gentina 2-2 (2-4) in the shootouts.
India finished ninth at the World Cup in Terrassa and Amstelveen while the Germans ended up fourth.
With a daunting task at their hands, the likes of Savita Punia, Vandana Katariya, and Gurjit Kaur will look to lead a major turnaround for the team.
Prediction for India vs Germany (Women) at Five-Nations Hockey Event
India 2 - Germany 2
