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The Five-Nations Hockey tournament enters its penultimate day with the Indian women taking on Ireland in the last of their matches on December 21.
Janneke Schopman's team is yet to register a win in the competition after slumping to three straight defeats with narrow margins.
The Indians lost to Spain 2-3 before going down to Belgium 1-2 in their second encounter of the Five-Nations Hockey Tournament. Following a 1-3 defeat to Germany, the Savita Punia-led-side would be keen to make amends against Ireland, ranked seven places below India at 13th as per the FIH.
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Giant-killers Ireland took the hockey world by storm when they advanced to the final of the 2018 Women's World Cup before being defeated 0-6 by the Netherlands.
At the London World Cup, the Indians lost to Ireland 0-1 in the group stages before captain Rani Rampal inspired the side to a 1-1 win over the USA. The Indians beat Italy 3-0 in the crossovers to make a historic entry into the Women's World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.
Awaiting India in the quarterfinals was Ireland who held the Indians to a goalless draw in regulation time before going on to win the resultant shootout 3-1.
The Indians exacted revenge on the Irish during a tour to Spain in 2019 where they defeated the World Cup silver medallists 3-0 after having drawn the first match 1-1.
The Indians will go into their Five-Nations Hockey game against Ireland as favorites as the Irish Green Army have failed to sustain their momentum in recent times.
Ireland fail to hold their own on the world stage following 2018 World Cup silver
The 2018 World Cup silver medalists failed to replicate their success on the world stage following their fairytale finish in London.
At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the Irish, who were placed in Pool A alongside the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, and South Africa, could notch up only a solitary win.
Ireland beat South Africa 2-0 but were eliminated in the pool stages after being defeated by the Netherlands, Germany, India, and Great Britain.
A 57th-minute goal from Navneet Kaur gave the Indians a 1-0 win in a thriller against Ireland following which the Indians advanced to the semifinals of the Tokyo Olympics.
At the 2022 Women's World Cup, the Irish who found themselves in Pool A, lost all their group matches to the Netherlands (1-5), Germany (0-3), and Chile (0-1).
Ireland finally defeated South Africa 2-0 in the classification games but lost to China 1-3 to finish joint 11th overall in the 16-team competition.
The Indian women who are eyeing a place in the Paris Olympics via the Olympic qualifiers in Ranchi next month will be certain to up the ante against Ireland hoping to notch up a win to end their Five-Nations Hockey campaign.
Prediction for India vs Ireland at Five-Nations Hockey Event
India 2-1 Ireland
