HOCKEY WORLD CUP INDIA FINISH EIGHTH

Heart - breaker

India Go Down 2-4 Argentina To Finish Eighth

      New Delhi: Scorelines can at times deceive you. They don't talk about ball possession, they don't talk about the fast, attacking hockey played by the team which has lost; they don't talk either about the scoring chances created by the losers. But scorelines rarely lie they tell you clearly which team exploited the chances which came its way to make it count. Well, that was the story of India's fight for the seventh place in the Hero Honda World Cup here on Friday evening. And the scoreline: 4-2 in fovour of Argentina.

        Rajpal singh's men played a fast game for the first 25 minutes, dominating the midfield, attacking from both the flanks. They failed to make it count and a silly mistake saw them concede a soft goal. In the second half, they tried to attack again even as Argentina tried to slow down the game. They even equalized through Sandeep Singh off a penalty stroke but what followed was mayhim for the hosts.

       They conceded three goals in three minutes -- captain Matias Vila scoring twice -- and the fight was over. It was as if the Indians had suddenly gone to sleep and had been woken up with a cruel, rude jolt. It was defending at its worst but credit must also go to Argentina for counter-attacking well and exploiting India's weakness to such deadly effect.

     

          The Incians did fight after that but managed to get just one goal through Shivendra Singh -- in the 49th minute. After that Argentina defended well and Indian for wards simply failed to find the way to goal after entering the circle again and again.

              

          So, India had muich more possession of the ball, they penetrated the circle much more and yet walked ouit with nothing to show for it.

           Spain take fifth spot, Kiwis finish ninth: Pol Amat scored twice to bring Spain a 2-0 win over South Korea and fifth spot. Amat struck when the match was just 18 seconds old and doubled the score in the 32nd minute. The Spaniards, third at the last World Cup and silver medalists at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, sustained severe pressure from the Asian champions in the second half.

            New Zealand came into the Hero Honda World Cup, ranked a fairly respectable eighth in the world. Even at the 2006 Monchengladbach WC, they had managed to match their rankings with an eighth-place finish. They aimed for something better this time. "We were expecting a fifth-sixth finish at least, " their coach Shane McLeod said. He should consider himself lucky his side didn't end 10th.

            Outsiders South Africa almost ran away with their 9thg-10th ply off. leading 4-3 till the last minute.With just six seconds left for the final hooter, the Kiwis earned themselves a short corner, converted it, and after the extra-time session failed to break the 4-4 deadlock, finally managed to win the close clash 5-4 via sudden death.