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India’s FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 campaign ended with a 3-5 defeat to Argentina at the Wagener Stadium, leaving them bottom of Pool E without a point from the second round. Sukhjeet Singh scored twice and Hardik Singh converted a late penalty stroke, but Argentina had led 2-0 inside six minutes. The Netherlands drew 2-2 with England to top the pool, with Argentina joining them in the semi-finals.
Amstelveen, Netherlands: India needed a heavy win and a favour from the Netherlands. They were two goals down before the sixth minute had passed, and the arithmetic was gone almost as soon as the match began.
Craig Fulton’s side arrived at the Wagener Stadium on Monday knowing the equation: overturn a negative goal difference against a side ranked one place above them, and hope England lost in the other Pool E fixture. Joaquin Toscani scored in the first minute. Nicolas della Torre added a second in the sixth.
Sukhjeet Twice, and Not Enough
Sukhjeet Singh pulled one back in the 10th to give India a foothold, and for a while the deficit stayed at one. It did not survive the second half.
Tomas Domene restored Argentina’s two-goal cushion in the 33rd minute and made it four from a penalty stroke in the 45th. Lucas Toscani struck in the 53rd for 5-1, and the match was beyond retrieval well before India found their remaining goals.
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Sukhjeet scored his second in the 58th and Hardik Singh converted a penalty stroke in the final minute, giving the scoreline a respectability the performance had not earned. India finished with three goals scored and five conceded, a night of missed chances and defensive lapses against opposition that took most of what it was offered.
Two Goals Either Side of Half-Time
The Netherlands needed only a draw to secure their semi-final place. England needed to win by two clear goals to overhaul Argentina, and they began as though they might.
Zach Wallace set up Stuart Rushmere to put England ahead in the sixth minute, and the lead held until 45 seconds before the interval, when Jip Janssen converted what proved to be the Netherlands’ only penalty corner of the match. Two minutes into the second half, a long pass into the circle found Thierry Brinkman for 2-1.
Henry Croft struck from a penalty corner in the 48th to level it, and England threw everything forward in the closing minutes chasing the two goals they needed. The Dutch defence held. The point took the Netherlands to seven and top spot; England, on four, go into the fifth-place game.
No Points From the Second Round
India came into Pool E carrying nothing, the consequence of a 4-2 defeat to England in the first round — the only result that transferred across under the format introduced for this edition. Their wins over Wales and Pakistan, which had secured second place in Pool D, counted for progression and no more.
Two matches followed and produced two defeats: 3-1 to the Netherlands on Saturday, and this. India finish bottom of Pool E with no points and a goal difference of −6.
Argentina, who beat England 3-1 in their opening Pool E match before beating India, go through in second on six.
A Wait That Continues
India’s best performance at a World Cup remains the title they won in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. That is also the last time the Indian men reached the semi-finals of this tournament, and the gap now extends past fifty years.
Fulton’s side had come to Belgium and the Netherlands as the world’s eighth-ranked team with a genuine argument for the last four. They beat Pakistan 5-3 in the first round and held the Netherlands scoreless for forty minutes on Saturday. Neither counted for anything by Monday evening.
India face co-hosts Belgium on Friday in the seventh-eighth place playoff. The semi-finals, also on Friday, pair the Netherlands with Spain in Amstelveen and Germany with Argentina in Wavre.
Results — Pool E, Men’s
India 3-5 Argentina (Sukhjeet Singh 10′, 58′, Hardik Singh 60′ pen stroke; Joaquin Toscani 1′, Nicolas della Torre 6′, Tomas Domene 33′, 45′ pen stroke, Lucas Toscani 53′)
Netherlands 2-2 England (Jip Janssen 30′, Thierry Brinkman 32′; Stuart Rushmere 6′, Henry Croft 48′)
Final Pool E standings: Netherlands 7 pts (+4); Argentina 6 (+2); England 4 (0); India 0 (−6)
Venue: Wagener Stadium, Amstelveen
Next: India v Belgium, seventh-eighth place playoff, Friday
