The Indian men's hockey team are out of the FIH World Cup after a 3-5 loss against Argentina in the second round match at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen on Monday.
India had to win the match by at least two-goal margin but ended up conceding five goals in a disappointing performance. For Argentina, Tomas Domene scored a brace while Joaquin Toscani, Nicolas Della Torre and Lucas Toscani grabbed a goal each.
For India, Sukhjeet Singh hit twice while Hardik Singh converted his penalty stroke.
India will now play the seventh-eighth place classification match against Belgium while Argentina have six points in the second round but need to wait for the result between England and the Netherlands. The Dutch have made it to the semifinals while England have to beat them big to reach the last four stage.
India's defence came under scrutiny before and during the World Cup. They had to show improvements at the back but ended up conceding the first goal inside the opening minute. They failed to stop the pass from the right and Toscani converted from a close range at the far post.
Della Torre doubled the lead six minutes into the match after a superb dragflick from a penalty corner chance. India pulled one back in the 10th minute when Sukhjeet collected a pass close to the goal and smashed it past the goalkeeper.
India needed more goals at the point but Domene scored his seventh and eighth goals of the tournament to put Argentina 4-1 ahead. The first one was a field goal, a solid reverse hit after the ball fell to him in the centre. The next one was a penalty stroke conversion after a terrible mistake from Yashdeep Siwach.
Lucas Toscani made it 5-1 -- another solid reverse hit despite being surrounded by three Indian defenders. India scored their second from Sukhjeet in the 58th minute and a penalty stroke by Hardik a minute later. However, the goals didn't make any difference to the result.
You can relive the match on our live blog below: