True to the “Three Muskeeteers” motto of “All for One and One for All” in the famous eponymous French novel by Alexander Dumas, veteran custodian Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh jumped to the defence of his captain Harmanpreet Singh after India’s heart-breaking 2-3 loss to Germany in the Olympic Games men’s hockey semifinals here last evening.

Eight-time gold medal winners India could convert only one out of the twelve penalty corner awards earned against the European powerhouse and four-time titlists with Harmanpreet not living up to his lofty standards.

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“It was a tough semifinal match and both the teams had opportunities that could have been converted. They (Germany) did a good job of defending penalty corners against Harmanpreet who is among the best drag flickers in the world. Some days are like that,” Kochi-born Sreejesh told reporters in the mixed zone after the game soon after the crestfallen India skipper trudged away without addressing the media persons.

For India, 28-year-old Harmanpreet – playing his 226th international game and scorer of 195 goals including 8 here going into the match against the reigning World Cup champions – took his tally to nine by converting an early award in the seventh minute.

The second goal for India was notched in the 36th minute by Sukhjeet Singh in an indirect penalty corner conversion as he connected the rebound from the rival goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danenberg’s pads and scored to make it 2-2.

India took an early lead in the first quarter before Germany bounced back and scored twice in the second through Gonzalo Peillat (penalty corner) and Christopher Ruhr (penalty stroke).

India drew level through Sukhjeet deflecting in a rebound off Harmanpreet’s penalty corner shot but the Germans had the last laugh when Marco Miltkau deflected in a cross from the left to score the all-important match-winner that sent Germany into the final against arch-foes Netherlands and India into a bronze medal fight-off against Spain. Both these matches are slated for tomorrow.

The 36-year-old Sreejesh felt it is time for his teammates to forget what happened against Germany and focus on the last game against Spain, which will also be his final game as a player as he has already announced his retirement after playing what would be his 336th international match.

“It’s a medal match. It’s not about me but about the country. All of us, including the support staff, will get the last opportunity to get a medal for our country. (We should focus on that match) rather than worrying about what happened today.

“It’s all about the Olympics. Nobody can say who would play the next one. I should say these 19 players (including support staff) should play like this is our last opportunity as a player to get a medal for our country.”

Sreejesh was upbeat that the team would put behind the loss against Germany when they clashed with Spain although he also said they need to look at the game to find out where India erred in order to learn from it.

“They (Germany) rode their luck. Our players did a wonderful job. We fought hard but unfortunately we could not finish it the way we wanted. I believe we will bounce back in a better way.”

“We need to look at this match also. From there we will know where we went wrong and where we can do better. Lots of oppositions look into these kinds of matchups and learn how they can hurt us. We need to find that out and block that.

“Definitely Spain is not an easy team (to counter). They are real fighters. They showed that in the quarter finals (3-2 win against Tokyo champions Belgium). Tomorrow is a day to look at ourselves and bounce back and play the next one. (And) the day after tomorrow (August 8) is going to be the last try for me and I hope they (teammates) will do good (well) for me,” Sreejesh concluded.