Argentina’s first goal against India came in the 3rd minute of the FIH Pro League match in Amstelveen. The second goal came in the 17th – just two minutes after the start of Q2. The third came in 34th minute – not long after the second half started, and more relevantly, just within one minute of the restart after India made it 2-2. And the fourth – and decisive – goal came within 20 seconds of pushback at the start of the fourth quarter. The first two goals were completely avoidable unforced errors from India, and the next two came as they were caught on the back foot.
When Craig Fulton took over as India’s coach, he made it clear that his mantra is ‘defend to win’. After the last two matches – both close defeats against world No 1 Netherlands – captain Harmanpreet Singh said, ‘Our first priority is to defend.’ On both those counts, India were found wanting as they lost 3-4 against Argentina to suffer their third straight defeat of this European leg.
Unlike the two matches against Netherlands where they made the better start, India were slow to get off the blocks in the opening exchanges on Wednesday. Argentina began with a couple of circle entries, moving the ball at speed. A move down the right flank saw Krishan Pathak deal with a cutback but Amit Rohidas, collecting the ball right next to the byline, with barely any pressure on him, attempted an aerial ball that was mishit. The ball fell to Matias Rey at the edge of the circle and the Argentina captain fired in a bullet strike high to Pathak’s left. It was a goal of India’s own making, yet another unforced error as we saw against the Dutch, creating pressure on themselves out of nowhere.
India did grow into the match in terms of ball possession after conceding that goal. With under four minutes left in Q1, Shilanand Lakra won the first Penalty Corner of the match. And Harmanpreet, as he does, stepped up and delivered.
However, the good work of coming back into the game in Q1 was undone immediately at the start of the second quarter with another remarkably soft goal to concede. From a simple pass into the circle down the right flank, Lucas Martinez controlled the ball with his back to goal at the edge of the circle and hit a shot on the turn. It wasn’t the strongest of shots but it came through Rohidas’ attempted block, then past Jarmanpreet Singh who was marking another attacker and missed the ball, and then past Suraj Karkera in goal who reacted late, perhaps with the aforementioned defensive duo blocking his line of sight. The whole thing almost happened in slow motion, and it was another completely avoidable goal.
Unlike Q1, there wasn’t a reaction to conceding the second goal from India. The passing moves repeatedly broke down when Argentina crowded out the outlets, there were attempted dribbles where Indian players ran into traffic and lost possession.
“Yeah, not a good half at all from us on the ball,” Fulton, visibly frustrated, said at halftime. “End of the day, we need to be better on the ball in our own half.”
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Within three minutes, a good long ball from Harmanpreet found Sukhjeet in space down the right channel and his cutback into the danger area resulted in a push on Mandeep Singh. India reviewed it immediately and ended up winning a stroke, that Harmanpreet converted cheekily the instant the whistle blew, leaving the goalkeeper no time to react.
But once again, India’s defence was split open far too easily right from the pushback. India lost the ball in Argentina’s half, they took the free hit quickly, releasing Tadeo Marcucci down the right flank. He drove all the way into the circle and the cutback was bundled over the line by Santiago Tarazona, as Argentina took the lead in the very next minute after Harmanpreet’s equaliser. Argentina kept the foot on the pedal and the Indian defence appeared rattled in deep defence.
As India won a PC, thanks to Abhishek’s 3D skills at the edge of the circle with 7 minutes to go in Q3, the broadcast camera panned to the dugout where captain Harmanpreet was seen entering the locker room area; he had picked up an injury from an earlier PC scramble in defence and having returned to full fitness after niggles early on in the season, he didn’t return to action.
India did manage to hit back again. The shot on goal from the right flank by Jarmanpreet Singh fell kindly on the rebound to Abhishek who lifted it into the net, but that goal was set up by a superb aerial ball from the left by Hardik Singh.
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But India were yet again pegged back at the start of a quarter, this time within half a minute. A sensational team move down the left flank saw the ball fall to Lucio Mendez in front of goal, and he lifted the ball over the defender’s stick and hit it past Karkera on the volley. A high-quality goal, indeed but India were once again caught napping after a restart. Fulton decided to pull the goalkeeper off with just over three minutes to play for one final push but it didn’t happen.
“After scoring a goal, we need to be defensively strong, we shouldn’t switch off and concede goals in like just 20 seconds, we need to improve that,” vice captain Hardik said after the match. A similar analysis thrice in a row… now, that’s a concerning pattern.
Scoreline: Argentina 4 (Matias Rey 3′., Lucas Martinez 17′, Santiago Tarazona 34′, Lucio Mendez 46′) vs India 3 (Harmanpreet Singh 12′ and 33′, Abhishek 42′)
