By the time the fourth quarter started, the scoreline was 1-1 and it looked anyone's game. In the end, the Netherlands held on to a thrilling 2-1 win, dashing India's dreams of making it to the semifinal of the World Cup for the first time in 43 years.
India and Netherlands started on a scratchy note with both sides wary of each other. However, the visitors, once they gained the upper hand in the 50th minute, denied India the freedom to press forward. In the end it were the missed chances in front of the goal that cost India dearly.
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Coach Harendra Singh, however, blamed the poor umpiring, apart from the missed opportunities, for India's loss. An angry Singh blasted the umpires and questioned the overall umpiring standards in top competitions. “I am not going to stop today. If they (umpires) don't want to improve, we will have to face such results,” he said at the post-match conference, so visibly angry that he could barely string together his sentences.
“Two umpiring decisions. Can anyone define Amit Rohidas's 10-min yellow card? What about this gentleman (pointing at Manpreet Singh sitting next to him), when he was pushed from behind? Why not yellow card then? Two times we got a card when we hadn't done anything. But when it happened against us, he (umpire) said nothing. They need to improve. We have lost two major tournaments. And people ask, why Indian hockey is not improving?
“I except both teams to be treated equal. One wrong decision and you ruin the preparation of 4-6 years,” Singh said.
Skipper Manpreet Singh, too, echoed his coach's views. When asked whether the team would lodge a protest with the tournament director, he said “What is the use? We lost. We are out of the tournament.”
It did not help matters much when the Netherlands coach rubbished Singh's issues with umpires. “The team with most chances wins the game. We won the game. That's the bottom line. In the end, the umpires didn't play the game. I think we always talk about it, playing as good as we can, to make sure that the ball goes the other way and can't cost us the game. We never discuss umpires in our meetings when we analyse our match performances.”
Singh, too, conceded that the forward line did not rise to the occasion and the team paid a price for it. He, however, refused to pin the blame on his players saying that the team fought right till the very end of the match, pressing hard without the goalkeeper. The defence, notwithstanding the two goals, was exceptional.
“We had a couple of open chances. We missed, so did Holland. That was because both teams were playing a high-tempo game. Sometimes you are not in the right position, or your stick is not there (in the right place). The way the boys fought without the goalkeeper, I want to salute my players in front of you.”
For fifth-ranked India, this is a devastating result but Singh and his players will take heart from the fact that the overall performance of the team has drawn praise from the experts of the game.
