The quiet suburb in Amstelveen, with its tree-lined avenues and parks, where the official team hotel is located is providing just the balm that the Indian players need after two high pressure matches in the 25th Champions Trophy hockey tournament.

The 3-4 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday followed by an unconvincing 3-2 win against a young German team the  following day, has taken a lot out of the players. The off-day today has come as a welcome break as the team lolled around in the hotel with some light gym work and a spot of jogging.

Coach Rajinder Singh though sported a crease of worry on his forehead as he mulled over tomorrow's match against Australia.

"They [Australia] will be going flat out against us. After all, they have only one point (from a draw with Pakistan) from two matches, so they will obviously be going all out for a win tomorrow," Rajinder Singh said.

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India, with three points from two matches, need to sustain the momentum if they hope to make it to the medal rounds at the end of this week when the six-nation tournament concludes.

"It is going to be a very tough match. The Aussies have not been playing as well as they were a couple of months back when we went to their country for the three-nation tournament. But even then, we cannot take them lightly as I feel they are fully capable of raising their game.

"Although their key forward (Jamie Dwyer) is down with a knee injury, they have a good enough side," said Rajinder Singh, who is hoping that his team will better the performance of the 1982 squad, of which he was a member.

Rajinder, with a hat-trick against Pakistan in the 1982 edition at the same venue, had played a key role in India finishing third, a finish till date not bettered.

 Looking back at the two matches India have played so far, Rajinder said: "We played at a high standard against Holland in our first match until the last seven minutes when we allowed them to score four goals.

"Against Germany, I thought, our boys were rather overconfident, thinking they could score any moment against the so-called development team. This was a big mistake on our part, and only when Germany scored their second goal in the 46th minute, we suddenly woke up to the reality."

The game against the Dutch was marred by a disputed goal and a yellow card send off to skipper Dhanraj Pillay and  also an injury to defender Dilip Tirkey.

"These two incidents unsettled our team and though we were shouting instructions from the bench, there was so much noise and chaos that the players could not hear us," the coach said.

"I am determined that we do not repeat the mistakes, and as you would have seen against Germany yesterday, our players did not protest any decision at all," he added, while agreeing that a little more discipline would help the players keep their focus on the match.

Reviewing the match against Germany, Rajinder said: "This German team is good and capable of scoring a few upset wins. I was quite impressed by their defence which did not concede a single penalty-corner until the 60th minute."

The coach conceded that the Indian players were a tired lot against Germany.

"I agree that some of the players were still thinking about the game against the Dutch that took a lot out of the team. We had less than 24 hours between matches. In contrast, the Germans were fresh since it was their first game."

He also pointed out that the fitness level of the Indian players was not up to the mark against Germany. "But we have  sufficient time now to recover for tomorrow. Am sure all our boys will be fit and ready for the game."

The other area where the coach said he would be concentrating on is the midfield play.

"We lack experience in the midfield and that is something I need to worry about. All our midfielders are talented but they still need to improve, which I am sure they will with a little more experience," he said.

"Otherwise, I am extremely happy with the performance of the team. Our defence is working well, and also our forward line. However, if Dhanraj Pillay and Baljit Singh Dhillon regain their form, then I think our attacks will be far more sharper. These two seniors have not had the best of tournaments so far, but I am sure they will be back on pace  soon," he said.