Pro League: India end home leg without win, lose 2-4 to Argentina

ROURKELA: Since the 2023 World Cup, India played eight times at Birsa Munda Stadium here and never lost a match but it all changed this year as India lost all their four Pro League matches including the last game on Sunday evening which Argentina won 4-2.

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It was once again a below-par showing from the hosts as they kept making poor mistakes, failed to convert the chances and looked out of sorts even when they had the ball. Even Harmanpreet Singh looked a pale shadow of himself.




They also gave away nine penalty corners from which Argentina scored twice. It could have been even more if one of their goals wasn’t disallowed and they didn’t hit the framework twice.

The only positive was Hardik Singh’s performance, who played like a monster throughout the match. And it was from his through pass that Aditya Arjun Lalage scored India’s opener in the 50th minute. India’s second goal came with a minute left in the match when Sanjay converted a penalty stroke. As for Argentina, Tadeo Marcucci (28th, 49th), Tomas Domene (18th) and Lucio Mendez (43rd) were on target.

Speaking after the match, coach Craig Fulton rued the missed chances and failure to win more PCs but was pleased with how Rosan Kujur played on his debut.

“Not the results we wanted, but there were some good moments today (Sunday). I thought Rosan did well on his first cap. I thought Aditya was a breath of fresh air. The one he hit over the top – that would have been a great time to score,” said Fulton.

The team will now travel to Hobart and the focus will once again be on development of the team.

Earlier, Domene converted Argentina's third PC when he slammed the ball into the top right corner of the net in the first quarter itself. But to the delight of the India fans and players, the goal was disallowed after the umpires saw that there was another ball on the field of play.

However, three minutes into the second quarter, Domene struck again and this time it was a grounder and Pawan could do nothing to keep it out.

Despite India trying hard to get back into the game, Argentina made it 2-0 with three minutes left in the second quarter. This time Marcucci received an aerial ball from the left inside the D, controlled it and slammed it into the back of the net from the right.

It was then during the last play of the second quarter that Lalage had a great chance to score. But he shockingly failed to keep it on target with Argentine goalkeeper Tomas Santiago making himself big in front of him.

After the change of ends, India then got two PCs early in the third quarter but couldn’t convert either of them as Argentina scored two more later on. Finally, India did score twice in the last 10 minutes but it was too late to make a comeback and they were handed their fourth consecutive defeat.

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