Hockey World Cup: Argentina beat India 5-3 at Wagener Stadion, India crashes out

India crashed out of the Hockey World Cup after a 5-3 defeat to Argentina at the Wagener Stadion on Monday, despite a late goal by Sukhjeet Singh in the 57th minute that was his side’s second of the match.

The match brought back memories of a comeback at the same venue 23 years earlier when India overturned a 2-4 deficit to beat Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, but needing a big win to remain in contention this time, Craig Fulton’s team could not reproduce such a recovery. The performance was described as sloppy and continued a difficult run for this Indian side in 2026.

Argentina struck early when a failed clearance inside 40 seconds left Joaquin Toscani unmarked to slot home the opener. Four minutes later, indecision from Yashdeep Siwach led to a conceded penalty corner that Nicolas Della Torre pushed low and hard to make it 2-0 before Sukhjeet reduced the deficit with a backhand finish in the ninth minute.

India managed better control in the second quarter but defensive mistakes returned. Mohith H.S. was unable to stop Tomas Domene’s fiercely-struck reverse-hit that found the net at 32 minutes, and when a Yashdeep backpass was intercepted inside the 25, the subsequent shot struck his foot and Domene converted the resulting penalty stroke at 44 to extend Argentina’s lead.

Lucas Toscani added a fifth for Argentina in the 52nd minute, arriving from a tight angle with minimal pressure from Sanjay Rana, before India staged a late response. Sukhjeet’s second came from a deflection off a Mandeep Singh slapshot in the 57th minute and Hardik Singh converted a penalty stroke at 60.

The official match scoring line read: Argentina 5 (Joaquin Toscani 1, Della Torre 5-pc, Domene 32 & 44-ps, Lucas Toscani 52) bt India 3 (Sukhjeet 9 & 57, Hardik 60-ps). The loss was India’s third in five games at this World Cup and left them having conceded 16 goals, the most since the 2010 edition.

Finishing last in Pool E, India will play the seventh-place classification game against Belgium.