Indian coach Brasa apologises to fans

“I am very sorry that we lost this match, I am very sad about it,” said the Indian coach after the 2-4 defeat that confirmed India’s eight position at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium.

The coach agreed that the team was let down by the defence. “The Argentines were very good in counters. If you look at the match, we had possession for most part of the 70 minutes.

“The problem was we didn’t score in the first 25 minutes when we had things in control. We also missed crucial penalty corners. After they scored two quick goals in the second half, it was difficult to come back,” he said.

Asked why he had persisted with Sandeep Singh in taking penalty corners, Brasa said he had no options. “We did try out others (Diwakar Ram and Dhananjay Mahadik) in earlier matches but they didn’t succeed. So we kept our faith in Sandeep,” he said, and admitted that not trying out variations was a mistake.

Captain Rajpal Singh blamed the defeat on poor defence. “If the defence concedes easy goals, we can’t do anything. If you look at Germany, their strong performance is based on their strong defence. We need to improve there,” he said.

Rajpal said it was difficult to say the team had improved when you look at the fact that they won just one game here. “Eighth place doesn’t mean anything. We won one match at the last World Cup. We won one match here. So what is the difference?” he asked.