The first objective has been achieved. On to the next one.
The Indian men's hockey team finished second in the group, ahead of the Aussies after a deserving 3-2 win over them and will now face Great Britain in the quarterfinal - a repeat of Tokyo 2020. Back then, India emerged 3-1 victorious to proceed to the semifinals. Head coach Craig Fulton will hope for a repeat of that performance, especially with the team full of confidence after their win against Australia.
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When is the match?
India vs Great Britain will take place at 1:30 PM on August 4, Sunday.
All the men's quarterfinals are scheduled on the same day. At 4 PM, there's Belgium vs Spain. The Netherlands will take on Australia at 9 PM. Later Germany will face Argentina at 11:30 PM.
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The big picture
India didn't have the best of the starts to the tournament, but the positive was that overall results weren't affected by middling performances. Now, the performance on the field has seen a massive uptick and the result was seen in the match against Australia.
One of the biggest changes after the first three matches has been the performance of India's forwards. Even before coming to the Olympics, India's forwards were struggling to create and score. Therefore, it came as a surprise when Araijeet Singh Hundal, who was one of the better players in attack, was left out of the squad.
The issue continued in the Olympics but the games against Belgium and Australia have shown that Fulton and his staff have worked on getting the attack right. The biggest positive has been the form of Abhishek. There's no better finisher in the team than Abhishek and the forward made a big impact with two smashing finishes against Belgium and Australia.
Abhishek apart, Mandeep Singh also put in a big shift in the last two matches, especially against Australia. He was instrumental in India creating multiple chances against the Aussies, with his ability to beat the press and find quick passes. Mandeep was able to bring the best out of Sukhjeet Singh and Gurjant Singh but most importantly, he also combined really well with attacking midfielder Rajkumar Pal.
Rajkumar was a constant menace near and inside the circle against Australia. Rajkuamar, along with Jarmanpreet Singh and Mandeep kept bombarding the right side of the pitch with aerial balls as well as short passes, constantly penetrating the circle.
Captain Harmanpreet Singh has scored in all but one match for India and PR Sreejesh's form has been sublime to say the least. They took their time, but India are finally getting things right on the field.
Meanwhile, Britain finished third in their group behind world champions Belgium and Pro League winners Netherlands. Consistency has been an issue for the British team, they had an inspired comeback 2-2 draw against the Dutch but couldn't beat the Germans and the South Africans. Their two wins came against France and Spain.
However, Britain have troubled India recently - defeating them in three of the last four matches, including twice in recent Pro League games. In fact, India's last win over Britain was at Tokyo 2020.
Britain's style is similar to Australia's. They play aggressively, with a high press and intensity, and create plenty of chances. They might not be in full control of the match, but they have game-changers and up the ante especially in the final quarter.
Key players
For Britain, penalty corner expert Gareth Furlong has been in scoring touch. He has so far scored three penalty corner goals. There's Zach Wallace, probably their best attacking player on the pitch. He can create chances as well as score field goals.
For India, the obvious goal-scorer and the goal-saver. Harmanpreet and Sreejesh are in form and need to continue doing the same. The forwards also found rhythm at the right time but importantly, Mandeep needs to bring his A game again. There's no one better than him in terms of creating scoring opportunities for others. When he clicks, the whole attacking unit works and in turn, the whole team improves.
Stats
Head-to-head: According to FIH data, India and Great Britain played each other nine times since 2015. Britain won four, India three and two matches ended in a draw.
Harmanpreet has scored the most number of goals this year - 22 from 27 matches. Australia's Blake Govers and Netherlands' Jip Janssen are next in the list with 19 goals each.
Britian's Sam Ward is the highest goal-scorer this year for his team, 17 from 20 matches.
What they said?
Harmanpreet:
"That's why we are here, man. That's what we are looking for. To give India its ninth (hockey) gold. We are giving everything to win that gold medal. But the main tournament is starting now. So, the quarterfinals, the semifinals, those matches are very crucial. So, we're just looking to give our best."