Hockey: India the big challenge at Champions Trophy

New Zealand's last round-robin game against India at the Champions Trophy in Lahore tonight shapes as their biggest in years, but coach Kevin Towns is confident his players will be up for the challenge.

"It sounds simple, but it will be anything but," Towns said from Pakistan yesterday. "We continue to be a bit up and down. We are making mistakes at vital times as we again showed against Germany. Simple passes were not finding their target.

"The Germans play slightly differently than other teams. They are a young side who mark very tightly man-to-man which meant we were often under pressure. Too often here we have been beaten to the 50-50 balls.

"I think our guys are slightly off the pace," Towns said. "Playing the NHL after the Athens Olympics was a fair step below what they are finding here."

Despite these reservations, Towns is confident the players will lift for tonight's crucial clash.

Victory over India, who they beat 2-1 at the Olympics, would almost certainly guarantee them a place in Sunday's bronze medal match.

The only fish-hook in that equation is the last of the round-robin matches between the Dutch and Germans. If Germany win, they could push New Zealand out of the top four.

Towns discounted any collusion between the two European nations.

"I don't think they get on all that well. I expect the Dutch will be too strong.

"But I'm more concerned about what we have to do.

"We were among the 40,000 who watched India go down 2-1 to Pakistan on Wednesday. If we retain the ball we will frustrate them. They love to have the ball and run with it. If we put pressure on them we should do okay.

"They are a bit shaky at the back. We have to be aware of that. Without doubt we are capable of winning but only if we can get the basics right and give 100 per cent for 70 minutes."

Towns admits he would like to see a better return from the limited number of penalty corners they have forced.

"We are still scoring goals, but if we had had Hayden Shaw here we might have scored three more goals. He's not, so we have to do the best we can."

Towns said the team was not thinking about a medal at this stage. They were concerned only about tonight's game and the chance to go on to their best finish in their fourth Champions Trophy appearance.

In other games today, the unbeaten Dutch should make it five-from-five over yet-to-win Germany, and Spain square off in the early game with Pakistan, who need to win to make the final.

Tomorrow is a rest day.