With the race to the semi-final at the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026, which took place in Belgium and the Netherlands from 15-30 August, going down to the wire, a ream of permutations of how India could make the final four was calculated.
India began the final Stage 2 match against Argentina at the bottom of Pool E, with zero points and a goal difference of -4. The Indian men’s team needed at least a two-goal win over Argentina and hope for a favourable result in the other group game.
It took 39 seconds for the arithmetic to start unravelling.
Argentina earned a free hit from just outside the shooting circle on the right flank. Tomas Domene, a penalty corner specialist, pushed the ball to Bautista Capurro near the goal line. He charged inside and crossed the ball without much pace. The pass came through a sea of orange. It cut past Jarmanpreet Singh, Rajinder Singh, Sanjay, India’s most capped player Manpreet Singh, India captain Harmanpreet Singh and midfielder Hardik Singh.
Yet, Joaquin Toscani found himself unmarked, with a clear sight at goal, and plenty of time to take his shot. And he did, with a first-time slap that evaded goalkeeper Mohith H.S. and was too quick for Manpreet to get his stick to. Less than a minute in, India were a goal down. Less than 10 minutes in, Argentina had doubled the lead. Left to play catch-up, India never really recovered and crashed to a 3-5 defeat. In the classification match against Belgium, they went down 3-4 on penalties to finish eighth in the men’s event.
That opening goal against Argentina, where the defence was caught napping in a match where India needed to press from the first whistle, summed up India’s flawed campaign. When the occasion demanded, they failed to rise to it.
“Where we have finished, it’s a little tough for us to believe,” India captain Harmanpreet Singh told PTI after the tournament. “The biggest lesson for us was that if you cannot defend well as a team, the big nations will punish you.”
Despite India’s glorious past in Olympics, the World Cup has always proved tricky territory. India’s only triumph at the global event came in 1975, and they haven’t medalled at the World Cup since. Since the turn of the century their best performance was a sixth-place finish when India hosted the tournament in 2018. As troubling a trend as that is, at a time when Indian hockey is hoping to reassert itself, this World Cup finish needs a thorough examination.
Two years ago, India won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, their second in as many Summer Games to provide a glimmer of hope. However, rather than using it as a stepping stone the Indian men’s team has stagnated on the world stage. In the last two seasons of the FIH Pro League, the top division international hockey league, they have finished eighth of nine nations.
At this year’s World Cup, India’s experienced core, most of whom featured in the team in the last two Olympics, was supposed to be an asset. Instead, the lack of pace and ideas hurt India.
“What is the point in saying somebody is playing their fourth World Cup? Is it numbers, or is it performance?” questions hockey legend Vasudevan Baskaran, who was the captain when India last won an Olympic gold at the 1980 Moscow Games.
“I don’t want to mention names or hurt anybody. Some of them did not even touch the ball in the four World Cups. Some of them scored only two goals in four World Cups. Why are we taking the same people even after they failed in the last World Cup?
Baskaran says there is no long-term thinking. From the last two junior World Cups, no player has transitioned to the senior team. “There were at least 3-4 boys from the 2025 team that won the bronze who could have been given a chance. I feel a major shakeup is needed. We have not played with a lot of passion. We are only happy with fourth, fifth or bronze.”
In a fast-paced, quick-moving game like hockey, a churn of players is essential not only to the tactics but also the execution. The Indian team is stuck with playing the same group of players, in the national camp, which stretches to over nine months, and in tournaments. The players in camp rarely play nationals or regional tournament, limiting their exposure to new challenges.
Meanwhile, countries like Germany, that went on to win a joint-record fourth men’s title, injected the squad with new blood. With an average age of just over 25, Germany was one of youngest teams in the competition and had five players that were playing their first major tournament for the country.
India, meanwhile, stuck to the same personnel and tired tactics. The ageing defence made too many errors, attack was not sharp enough and their midfield was rendered ineffective with the creator-in-chief Hardik Singh heavily marked throughout the competition. The team never found a solution to that problem.
“If Hardik is not allowed to play, what is the next step? Should he go up and play? Or come back and play. Taking Hardik away is not coaching. Hardik should be on the ground and do something else. They didn’t have a counter plan for what the opponent is doing,” adds Baskaran.
Craig Fulton’s team neither had an X-factor nor a Plan B.
To sum up in numbers, in the six matches India played, they scored 17 goals, nine of which came off penalty corners and only six were field goals. Meanwhile, India conceded 19, 14 of which were field goals. The only teams they managed to beat were Wales and Pakistan, another declining power in hockey.
The good thing about sport is that there’s always the next tournament, next challenge. The bad thing for Indian hockey may be that the Asian Games, where the competition is far inferior to India, comes too close on the heels of the World Cup, giving the team a chance at a quick fix. Nothing like the blinding glow of gold to steal focus. Especially when it comes with the added incentive of an Olympic qualification—only the Asian Games 2026 winner will be granted a spot at Los Angeles in 2028.
“Asian hockey is currently at its worst ever, seeing the performance of Japan, Pakistan and Malaysia at FIH World Cup,” former India captain Viren Rasquinha posted on social media. “My worry is that gold medal for India at the Asian Games will paper over a lot of cracks in Indian men’s hockey. Serious introspection is needed post the AG-fitness, selection, tactics, squad depth, etc.”
At the World Cup, India was the only Asian team to progress from first group stage to Stage 2, which featured top 8 teams. Japan and Malaysia finished at the bottom of their respective pools while Pakistan was third in Pool D. Neither of the teams won a single match.
The men’s team may deliver gold at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, but answers will be harder to come by.
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.