Hockey: India face Germany in 5-8 play-offs

India hope to replicate their last group match performance against World No.1 Germany, who they face in a 5-8 classification playoff at the Hockey World League Final here Friday.

The crowd witnessed a nail-biting clash between the two sides when they last met Monday, drawing the match 3-3. India were on the verge of upsetting the reigning Olympic champions when a goal by Germany in the dying minutes splashed water on Indian hopes.

"The practice sessions are helping us to improve our performance on a day-to-day by working on our flaws. The youngsters got an opportunity to play against top teams in the tournament and have picked up many tips by seeing them play. The improvement is evident and this tournament is helping us prepare for the World Cup," skipper Sardar Singh said Thursday.

Forward S.V. Sunil said they are preparing to overcome the loopholes that were seen in the quarterfinal against Australia Wednesday and give Germany a tougher fight this time around.

"We have been analysing videos of all our matches and accordingly working on areas where we have been lacking. The match against Australia was lost due to our silly mistakes, such as man-to-man marking and losing simple possession. We are working on the same to better our performance against Germany," said Sunil.