BHUBANESWAR: Like the city has tended to do over the last few days, the blazing afternoon sun had given way to threatening storm clouds on Friday evening. Just when the respective India-Germany women's teams lined up for the anthems, some of the scribes sought the comfort of the media centre as droplets of water began falling on the media tribune, a place inside the ground where journalists sit and file in real-time.
There were similar scenes elsewhere across the four stands of the Kalinga Stadium. Fans made their way to the quickest exit. On the blue turf, though, it was very much business as usual for the sides.
Even if the Pro League has a tangible reward for the team finishing first at the end of the season — a World Cup spot — sides have been taking it easy, playing in second and third gear rather than chasing after lost causes and putting bodies on the line. It's how competitions at the beginning of a new Olympic cycle tend to be; the older players have either left or are being phased out, youth is the buzzword and a loss is more palatable because sides can dress it up as growing pains, lessons for the future.
Saying all that, the India vs Germany encounter had some promise because of the rich narratives in play. One of the last times these two sides faced each other (an Olympic qualifier at Ranchi early last year), Germany dumped India in a penalty shoot-out in the semifinal. Subsequently, India failed to win the third-place match. A month later, Janneke Schopman, then India coach, resigned. These days, Schopman is in charge of the German women's team. Actually, both sides have new coaches, a common theme at the beginning of a new Olympic cycle.
Coaches — Schopman and Harendra Singh — with plenty to prove. For the former, another chance to show her coaching acumen in India after leading the Odisha Warriors to the title in the inaugural Women's Hockey India League. She doesn't want to spend too much time on her experience with the women's time (the Dutchwoman had accused her former employers of discrimination before resigning). That is a closed chapter, the stint with the German team is about embracing new challenges. For Singh, too, the Indian stint is a new challenge.
On the evidence of the 60 minutes in the driving rain, Singh's challenge is far greater. They weren't at the races as the visitors were all over them like a rash from pushback. From an Indian perspective, this was like watching a bad movie, the relief apparent only after the end, with the electronic scoreboard saying India 0-4 Germany.
After the match, the Indian coach claimed his side were the fitter outfit but the visitors were quicker to snuff out danger, reacted better to chances and scored several eye-catching goals in the process. The second one, by Sophia Schwabe who dribbled past several defenders before finding the board, was a case in point.
At half-time, Singh, in a short pitchside interview, had said his team was giving Germany way too much respect. He touched on it after the match. "Too much respect for the opponents," he said in the mixed zone. "So much discussion about the match in the dressing room and meeting room... show the character.
"We have to show grit and determination. If we show too much respect, we are going to pay the price. Show the character, show determination, show that you are hungry... in the third quarter, we were all over them but small mistakes and we went back to our shell. This is what we have to learn, the entire team has to work but someone has to step up and take the lead and start because there's no communication, no coaching on the pitch, everyone just running here and there in the first quarter wasting their gas."
By the time the final hooter had cut through the evening air, the rain had dissipated and the soundtrack of the crowd's familiar roar every time an Indian player drove forward with the ball was back. However, it was few and far in between.
Friday's scores: Women: Netherlands 5-1 England, Germany 4-0 India.
Men: India 3-1 Ireland.