India beat Argentina 3-1.

INDIA : Deepak Thakur (30 min), S. S. Gill (47 min), Dhanraj Pillai (64 min)
ARGENTINA : Jorge Lombi (52 min)

INDIA - 4 penalty corners, 0 converted
ARGENTINA - 5 penalty corners, 1 converted

India was playing only for pride. A loss here would mean an 8th place finish, as in Atlanta, which is the worst ever for India in the Olympics. This was also a good chance to expose the youngsters to big-match situations.

India yet again rested Mukesh Kumar (full match) and skipper Ramandeep Singh and Mohammed Riaz (who played only briefly). Dhanraj was given the freedom to play forward rather than withdrawn-forward. Finally, Baljeet Dillon was shifted from the left to centre-half in the role of playmaker.

Following a string of attacks by the forwards, India finally got a goal in the 30th minute. Dhanraj, Dhillon and Sameer Dad combined nicely to work the ball into the Argentine zone. Dhanraj in mid-run stopped the ball dead, and raced off to the right drawing two defenders after him, Dhillon moved into the vacant space and pushed the ball to the left and Deepak Thakur finished off the fine move with a clean strike.

India took a 1-0 lead into the second half. With a fresh wave of assaults, the inevitable second goal came when Sukhbir Singh Gill intercepted Dhillon's free hit near the opponent's circle, dodged past a couple of defenders and shot home beating the goalkeeper all ends up.

With a 2-0 lead, India started to relax. When Argentina got a penalty corner in the 52nd minute, the Indians did not even chase the ball down off the push, allowing Jorge Lombi all the room he needed to scoop the ball in to the right corner of the goal.

India was not done yet. Dhanraj Pillai, who had not scored throughout the tournament due to the coach playing him as a withdrawn forward, produced a fine solo run, before scoring a goal through an assist from Dhillon.

For the third consecutive match, and Indian player got the yellow card. Dhillon was sent out of the game 4 minutes before the end of game. By that time, however, the issue was beyond doubt.

The vultures are waiting back in India. There will be strong criticism both in the media and among the fans. What will be good for Indian hockey would be:

1. Resignation of IHF President Gill and Secretary Jyothikumaran Kandasamy

Under their reign, India had its two worst-ever finishes in the Olympics (1996, 2000) and a 9th place finish in the World Cup (1998). Coaches and captains have come and gone with every tournament, but never the IHF management who selected the coaches and teams. The Gill-Kandasamy duo have to take responsibility for their actions and resign gracefully for the good of Indian hockey.

India's only title of note during their era was the Asian Games gold. The IHF rewarded the team by sacking the head coach and six seniors.

2. Resignation of Chief Coach Vasudevan Bhaskaran

4th place in the Champions Trophy (1996), 9th place in the World Cup (1998) and 7th place in the Olympics (2000). India has not won any world-level tournament under Bhaskaran. A coach like Kim Sang-Ryul of Korea has done wonders for Korea with a limited pool of 150 players and a single 8-team league in the entire country. If the IHF is looking for a foreign coach, they should look no further than Korea.

3. Retirement of the seniors

Dhanraj, Mukesh, Dhillon, Ramandeep, Riaz, Thiruvalavan, Nayak, though they did their best in Sydney, could not win for India when it mattered most (matches again Poland and Great Britain). It is time the torch passes on to the youngsters. The only positive thing the IHF can claim credit for is the building of a strong junior team. With the right coaching, and a different managment, this talented bunch of youngsters can bring glory once again.