High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans admitted that India could not sustain its momentum in the last quarter which resulted in the team’s 4-2 defeat to Argentina in a Pool B match of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.
“We played well for 45 minutes. In the last quarter, we went out for the third goal and lost structure in defence. Argentina thrives on counter-attacks and we should have shut the back door,” said the Dutch, doubling up as the chief coach for the host.
Oltmans said allowing Argentina to draw level twice also had its effect. “Twice they scored almost immediately and that was a huge setback.”
Captain Sardar Singh said India could not handle Argentina’s counter-attacks well.
“We could not control the game towards the end and we were not consistent enough. The crowd was overenthusiastic and the players got carried away,” he said.
