Half-chances matter a lot when playing against top teams in the world. On Monday, India had more than a few of these but failed to convert them, going down 3-1 to the Netherlands in its last league match of Pool B at the Hockey World League Finals here.
It was an impressive, all-round performance from the World No. 2 side that finished on top of the table, undefeated and with seven points from three games. India performed in bursts, brilliant one moment and lacklustre the next. It finished the league engagements with one point to end fourth.
Both sides began cautiously, attempting only an occasional foray. The Dutch had hoped for a controlled, defensive India; coach Roelant Oltmans wanted his team to attack.
The hosts alternated — and the momentum changed accordingly. When India attacked relentlessly, the Dutch struggled. When it fell back to defend, the Dutch took control.
India had the first shot at goal in the ninth minute when a brilliant dodge by Danish Mujtaba inside the circle to put Akashdeep Singh in possession was missed. That move was initiated by Manpreet Singh and the youngster, along with Sardar Singh, kept pumping balls up front. Birendra Lakra was brilliant — changing flanks, falling back to defend and moving up to attack — but the lack of an effective poacher affected the team, with eight shots at goal compared to 15 by the Dutch.
The Dutch, switching from man-to-man marking to zonal style frequently, picked up pace in the third quarter to go ahead 2-0. Mink van der Weerden converted a penalty-corner in the 36th minute.
Seven minutes later, he dodged past Mujtaba to shoot the ball in and while the entire Indian defence watched Constantijn Jonker at the near post, the ball went past to Mirco Pruijser, who scooped into the net.
S.V. Sunil manufactured a penalty-corner breaking past three defenders in the final quarter and Chinglensana Singh struck on a rebound to reduce the margin, but a rare goalkeeping error by P.R. Sreejesh let in the third Dutch goal.
In the other Pool B match, it was a battle of attrition among two teams with strong defence and Argentina emerged victorious to finish second in the pool. Gonzalo Peillat retained his scoring record with two strikes in a 3-1 victory over Olympic champion Germany.
The results: Pool B: The Netherlands 3 (Mink van der Weerden, Mirco Pruijser, Roel Bovendeert) bt India 1 (Chinglensana Singh); Argentina 3 (Gonzalo Peillat 2, Matias Parades) bt Germany 1 (Niklas Wellen).
