Amsterdam: India’s hopes of a podium finish in the Men’s Hockey World Cup virtually ended on Saturday after they went down 1-3 to co-hosts Netherlands at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen.
Having carried forward zero point from the first phase, India are yet to open their account in Pool E. With just one game left to play, India can at best reach 3 points if they beat Argentina. The Dutch are already on 6 points with one game to play, while England are on 3 with two to play.
If England beat Argentina on Saturday night, India’s fate will be officially sealed as far as a semifinal entry is concerned.
The only way India can still make the last four is for England to lose both their matches, against Argentina and Netherlands, and then hope for a superior goal difference in case of a three-way tie on points.
India needed at least a point, if not 3 on Saturday. The first two quarters did not produce a goal despite both teams creating opportunities.
India forced had circle entries (20 versus 16), more penalty corners (7 versus 4) and greater possession (61.6% vs 38.4%) in the entire match. But those stats meant nothing in the end as the Dutchmen raised their game at crucial junctures to deflate Indian threat.
Six minutes after half-time, Duco Telgenkamp scored the first of Netherlands’ three field goals. Tjep Heodemakers doubled their advantage with a brilliant effort in the third quarter (51st minute).
Within a minute, skipper Harmanpreet Singh, despite not being at his best physically, drag-flicked one into the Dutch goal to reduce the margin.
Down 1-2 with eight minutes to play, India were still not out of the game. But Thijs van Dam produced another magical strike in the 55th minute to shut out India’s revival hopes.
Indian women go down 0-2
On Friday night, Indian women lost 0-2 to the Dutch to do their chances of making the semis any good.
Having carried forward a solitary point from first phase, Indian women will have to beat Australians on Sunday to keep alive last-four hopes.
