Ireland may feel the sting of missing out on points from their opening match against India as they face into a tough match against Germany at the hockey stadium in Deodoro.
The 5-0 drubbing by the the Netherlands on Sunday was also unexpected. Craig Fulton had taken the team to a level where they believed they were better than that scoreline. Ireland may not have been able to beat the Dutch but conceding five goals will be seen as disappointing and under par.
The vulnerable mood in the Irish camp does not bode well for the side against Germany in their third game of this Olympic experience.
Priding themselves on sound defending and composure has been part of Ireland’s game in the build up matches. Fulton has built the team on solid defending and scoring on the break or from penalty corners.
Poor start
Against the higher-ranked sides at least that is how they have been forced to play and they have made it work for them. The Dutch scoreline is Ireland of old, not this team.
The poor start particularly will annoy Fulton with Mink Van Der Weerden and 17-year-old Jorrit Croon giving their team a two-goal lead in the opening eight minutes.
But there is a chink of light. Ireland know they missed a chance against India and the Indians just lost to Germany 2-1 with the Germans managing to escape with a win in the dying seconds of the match, Christopher Ruhr scoring after 59 minutes 57 seconds.
It won’t need to be said to the players but they must find a way of not coughing up penalty corners to Germany.
Two of the Netherland’s goals came from the set piece and all three from India.
That’s a telling stat that eight goals have been conceded and five of those have come from penalty corners. But preventing them is easier said than done and the best way of doing it is to hold possession rather than defend on the back foot.
Third best
Germany arrive as the third best team in the world, although that doesn’t really matter as England are ranked at four and Ireland have beaten them in major competition.
What Ireland desperately need most of all is a performance against the defending Olympic champions, something to put them in the right frame of mind for what they see as winnable matches in their final two pool games against Canada and Argentina.
