Auckland, India, a semifinal spot already sealed, a relaxed Indian women's hockey team would look to end the pool engagements undefeated to bolster its confidence against a lower-ranked Uruguay in the FIH Nations Cup here on Thursday.
Unbeaten India are atop Pool A with six points from two games and have already qualified for the last four, having defeated USA 3-2 and Japan 2-1 in their first two matches.
India are determined to win the FIH Nations Cup to get their place back in next season's elite FIH Pro League, from which they got relegated last year.
The Indian women's team was relegated from the elite FIH Pro League to the second-tier FIH Hockey Nations Cup, following its last-place finish in the 2024–25 season, after managing only 10 points from 16 matches.
Going into their final pool game against a relatively easy opponent, India would take heart from their fighting wins in the opening two games.
Ranked ninth in the world, the Salima Tete-led India will definitely start as favourites against world no. 17 Uruguay, who have lost both their opening two matches.
India scored all their five goals in the two matches through penalty corners. Deepika is joint second in the goal scorers list with two strikes, while Navneet Kaurn Salima and Lalremsiami found the net once each.
But going into the business end of the tournament, India's chief coach Sjoerd Marijne would expect heavy effort from his strikers and would want them to find the net from field efforts and Uruguay provides them the best opportunity to do that.
With two important tournaments lined up this year World Cup and the Asian Games Marijne would also be tempted to try out new combinations in the remaining matches of the FIH Nations Cup, which is part of the team's preparations for the big ticket events.
Having considered three goals in two matches, the Indian defence, though, needs to tighten up a bit.
