Hockey World League 2017: India's title hopes end in 0-1 defeat to Argentina in the Semis of HWL2017

There could be reasons to debate whether India lost to conditions or the opposition but there’s no excuse to the missed chances the hosts created in the last five minutes that cost them a 0-1 defeat against Argentina in the semifinals of the Hockey World League at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.


Gonzalo Peillat’s 17th-minute penalty-corner conversion separated the two teams on a day when rain ruled Odisha capital and the heavy pitch resulted in a cat-and-mouse game after Argentina scored.


India earned two back-to-back penalty corners in the second quarter but Rupinder Pal Singh couldn’t make use of either.


The Indians were at the receiving end of a tough call and left with 10 men in the last eight minutes before half-time, but they managed to add bricks in the defence to keep it 0-1.


Argentina resorted to 11-man defence everytime the ball was in their half from the third quarter onwards and then deployed aerial balls in the final 15 minutes to keep the Indians at bay.


The Indian forwards went for full press in the final five minutes of the match with a kicking-back, and to their credit, created chances as well, but Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Gurjant Singh couldn’t find the elusive goal that could have taken the game to a shootout.


The hosts will next play for the bronze medal on Sunday against the losing team of the second semifinal between Australia and Germany.





Source: ZeeNews