India coach Fulton blames poor start as World Cup campaign ends after 5-3 loss to Argentina

India men’s head coach Craig Fulton blamed a poor start as his side’s World Cup campaign ended with a 5-3 defeat by Argentina in Amstelveen on Monday, August 24, 2026.

India conceded early goals after mistakes in the opening five minutes that left them chasing the game, and further errors in the second half removed any realistic chance of a comeback, according to match reports and coach comments.

Fulton took responsibility for the result, telling Sportstar: “I think the outcome was bigger than the performance. So I think that got the better of us. If we had just gone back to our normal approach, which I was hoping we would, (it would have been different). I take full responsibility for that.”

He also described the start as unacceptable and noted Argentina’s clinical punishment of errors: “It was just not how we want to start again, unfortunately. Argentina will punish mistakes, and they did. But it was nice to see in the last 10-12 minutes that we came back and could have scored three goals in the five-six minutes but it was too late.”

Two mistakes by defender Yashdeep Siwach led directly to goals, with Nicolas Della Torre converting a penalty corner and Tomas Domene slotting home a penalty stroke. Defender Jugraj Singh did not feature in the second round, a decision Fulton attributed to rotation: “No, rotation. So just rotation. [Nilkanta Sharma] Kanta today, Vivek [Sagar Prasad] yesterday (sic). So we’re using these games for Asian Games as well,” Fulton clarified.

Fulton rejected singling out a single player for blame, saying: “I think everyone didn’t have a good day today. Not just one player. I think it happens and it happened to us in this game. We were hoping for a better performance, considering the ramifications. I think we put ourselves in this situation in the England game. Had we held out and tried to get a result in that game, it would have changed everything further down. But we tried and it wasn’t to be,” said Fulton.

India have played 21 games this year, losing 10 and conceding 45 goals. Fulton nevertheless expressed a forward focus on rankings and the remaining fixture: “Yes, that’s the plan. We’re still playing (for) our ranking. We’ve got one more game. So I’m looking forward to it.” India will now face Belgium for seventh place at the tournament.