'Wasn't good enough': Craig Fulton after India's 3-5 loss to Argentina at FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2026

India's men's hockey team lost 3-5 to Argentina in Amstelveen in a must-win Pool E match at the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2026 on Monday, ending their campaign and confirming their exit from the tournament.

India went into the final Pool E game needing a sizeable victory to keep semi-final hopes alive but finished bottom of the group; the defeat extended the country's 51-year wait for a podium finish at the event. The match at the Wagener Stadion began poorly for India as they conceded twice inside the opening six minutes, and although a late fightback narrowed the margin, the team could not fully recover.

Reacting to the result, head coach Craig Fulton was direct about the start. "Disappointing. I think we didn’t want to have the start we had, but it happened," he said.

Fulton noted a positive phase before half-time that offered a route back into the contest. "I’m glad we got back into the game 2-1. Half-time came at a good time, we regrouped," he added.

On the second-half performance, Fulton identified the third quarter as the turning point. "Unfortunately, third quarter was a little bit hard to manage. We didn’t play our normal fast attacking hockey," he admitted.

India produced a late spell of improved play, scoring twice in the closing stages to finish 5-3, with Fulton reflecting on that period: "But come the last seven or eight minutes, we started to find our stride and scored two goals," Fulton said. "It could have been a third goal and we finished 5-3 down in a big game."

The result leaves India with a record of two wins from five matches at the tournament and a defensive tally of 16 goals conceded across those five games, a total described in the coverage as the leakiest defensive record at the tournament since 2010.

India will face Belgium in the seventh-eighth place classification match to close out their World Cup campaign.