India’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 ended following a 5-3 defeat against Argentina in their final Pool E match at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen on Monday.
Sukhjeet Singh (10′, 58′) scored twice for world No. 8 India while Hardik Singh (60′) converted a late penalty stroke.
World No. 7 Argentina struck through Joaquin Toscani (1′), Nicolas della Torre (6′), Tomas Domene (33′, 45′) and Lucas Toscani (53′).
India finished fourth in Pool E without a point and will now face co-hosts Belgium in the seventh-eighth Hockey World Cup place classification match on Friday.
India had entered Monday’s hockey match with only a slim chance of progressing to the semi-finals. They needed a big victory over Argentina and also required the Netherlands to beat England in the other Pool E encounter.
However, Argentina raced into a 2-0 lead inside six minutes.
Joaquin Toscani opened the scoring inside the first minute, finding space at a tight angle before firing past Indian goalkeeper Mohith HS.
Argentina doubled their advantage five minutes later. After Mohith had denied their previous penalty-corner attempt, Nicolas della Torre converted another to make it 2-0.
The Indian hockey team responded in the 10th minute through Sukhjeet. Abhishek helped build the move before the ball eventually reached Sukhjeet, whose firm push found the back of the net.
Neither side scored in the second quarter as India struggled to turn possession into clear-cut opportunities and went into half-time trailing 2-1.
Argentina restored their two-goal advantage three minutes after the restart. Sanjay was dispossessed in midfield and the South Americans quickly turned defence into attack, with Tomas Domene finishing the move.
India earned a series of penalty corners thereafter but captain Harmanpreet Singh was unable to find a way past the Argentine defence.
Domene then converted a penalty stroke in the 45th minute for his second goal of the contest, putting Argentina 4-1 ahead heading into the final quarter.
Lucas Toscani made it 5-1 in the 53rd minute with a powerful tomahawk that beat substitute goalkeeper Suraj Karkera.
India mounted a late fightback. Sukhjeet produced a deft deflection from Mandeep Singh’s cross in the 58th minute for his second of the night before winning a penalty stroke a minute later.
Hardik converted from the spot to reduce the deficit to 5-3.
India had one final opportunity from a penalty corner before the hooter, but Argentina goalkeeper Tomas Santiago made the save to bring the contest to an end.
The result confirmed India’s elimination from semi-final contention after they had also lost 3-1 to the Netherlands in their previous Pool E encounter.
India had progressed to the second round after finishing second in Pool D, beating Wales 3-1 and Pakistan 5-3 while losing 4-2 to England.
India’s best performance at the Hockey World Cup remains their title-winning campaign in Kuala Lumpur in 1975. That was also the last time the Indian men reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.
At the previous edition in 2023, India finished ninth after missing out on the quarter-finals.
