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Despite giving a bright display of gallant hockey skills, India found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard as they were defeated 0-1 by reigning Olympic champions Argentina in the first semi-final of the 2016/17 FIH Hockey World League Final held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
From the start of the match, the spectators were in for a tough tussle. With neither of the sides ready to budge even an inch, the first quarter saw no goals. However, only two minutes into the second quarter, Argentina earned their first penalty corner. Star drag flicker Gonzalo Peillat made no mistake in converting the opportunity into a brilliant goal to give a 1-0 lead to Argentina.
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The Indians were not to go down without a fight. However, they failed to breach their opponent's defence. Worse, an attempt to spur the attack on Argentina proved disastrous for skipper Manpreet Singh. He was shown a yellow card in the 23rd minute itself and India found themselves playing with only 10 men.
During the third quarter, the onus of equalizing the score fell on star player Rupinder Pal Singh who earned an opportunity in the 32nd minute itself. However, Argentina goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi helped his team survive the scare. Argentina proceeded to hold their nerve even as the Indians tried desperately to score.
Despite their best attempts to score, the likes of Akashdeep Singh and Gurjant Singh could not breach the defence of Juan Vivaldi who continued to deny the attackers in a remarkable manner. The final hooter doused India's hopes of creating history at the FIH Hockey World League. They will now taken on the loser of the second semifinal between Australia and Germany for the third-place match.
