A heart-wrenching defeat in the semi-finals notwithstanding, a demoralised Indian men's hockey team will have to regroup quickly and aim for a second consecutive podium finish at the Olympics when it takes on Spain in the bronze medal play-off in Paris on Thursday.
The Indians played bravely against Germany, putting their defence under pressure from the start and in the process took the lead in the seventh minute through a penalty-corner conversion by skipper Harmanpreet Singh.
But the Germans came back strongly in the second and fourth quarters to snatch a narrow victory, courtesy some defensive lapses from the Indians, especially Jarmanpret Singh.
The Indians too were guilty of wasting too many scoring chances, including as many as 10 penalty-corners, while converting two, one directly and another through variation.
The opposition teams seemed to have found out a way to deny Harmanpreet, one of the world's best drag-flickers, who could only find the target just once on Tuesday.
The over-reliance on Harmanpreet and lack of innovative penalty-corner variations has hurt India badly at the Games.
The return of Amit Rohidas, who missed Tuesday's match after being shown the red card against Great Britain in the quarter-final, should bolster the Indian defence and also give more chances from penalty-corners as he is the second-best option from set pieces after Harmanpreet.
The Indians were looking to break a 44-year-old jinx to reach an Olympics final but it eluded them narrowly.
The last time India made the Olympic hockey final was way back in 1980 Moscow Games, when they won the last of the eight gold medals at the quadrennial event.
A place in final would have at least assured India a silver medal after the 1960 Olympics but that also slipped out of hands.
Going by form and world ranking, the Indians are clear favourites to win the tie against Spain but in the end it will all boil down to the mental aspect of the side.
While India lost a close semi-final, Spain were thrashed 0-4 by the Netherlands.
In the world rankings too, Spain are placed eighth while India are fifth.
But it would be easier said than done for the Indians, as Spain, while not matching India's Olympic achievements, have made significant strides.
The Spanish team has secured two European Championship titles and consistently participated in World Cups since 1971.
India's most notable victory over Spain was in the gold medal match of the Moscow Olympics, which they won 4-3.
India too enjoy the upper hand over Spain in head-to-head record, winning last four of the five games they played against each other.
In the Olympics, India and Spain squared off in 10 contests with India coming out winners in seven, while Spain won one game; two matches ended in draws.
