With six seconds remaining, India earned a penalty corner that just fell short of the goal.
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After a barren first two quarters, Netherlands drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Hofman scored from a rebound after Sreejesh made a fine save to deny van der Weerden from their first penalty corner. Two-time defending champions Germany, second in the table with three wins, and the Netherlands are the two teams who have already secured their positions in the quarter-finals. They scored three goals in the third quarter before pumping in another one in the final quarter to win the one-sided match. But they did well to prevent a goal.
Both the teams started the game on a cautious note, waiting for each other to make the mistake. The Netherlands dominated the ball possession initially and India slowly got into the groove.
The Dutch had the first real scoring opportunity when Hertzberger diagonal ball from the right 25 yard area created twin chances but Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, rooted on his line, was up to the task on both occasion. Dutch midfielder Rogier Hofman crossed from the left baseline for Valentin Verga, who tested Sreejesh from a close angle but Sreejesh was alert to avoid the danger.
India could not capitalize on any of these, despite doing so earlier in the game thanks to Raghunath Vokkaliga’s drag flick.
With less than five remaining, India took the gamble of taking off Sreejesh as goalie and added an extra striker.
India then forced a spate of penalty corners but the Dutch survived the dying minutes of the match to pocket full points.
India fought hard to score an equaliser and took five consecutive penalty corners at the death but were unlucky not to find their way in.
With only eight outfield players for India available, the Netherlands saw this as a great opportunity and pappered the Indian circle but the Indian defence stood strong.
Netherlands then put huge pressure on the Indian defence and secured three more penalty corners in quick succession.
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While Sreejesh saved two efforts, van der Weerden finally managed to beat the Indian custodian with a low, powerful flick to the bottom right corner to hand Netherlands what proved to be a decisive 2-1 lead. However, India failed to convert them and lost the match 1-2.
