India coach Jose Brasa was remorseful after the loss to Argentina in the seventh-eighth place play-off tie.

By Adarsh Vinay

India coach Jose Brasa was apologetic after the 4-2 loss to Argentina in the seventh-eighth place play-off tie at the Hockey World Cup in New Delhi.

Addressing the media after the game, he said the entire team was sorry for the loss.

"We are very sorry for the loss. The team is extremely disappointed. We expected to win. We had more possession, more chances but we did not win. It is very sad," said Brasa.

With the match bringing India's participation in the tournament to a close, the coach sat and analysed what went wrong.

"We need to improve our performance in our circle and in the opposition circle. Everywhere else on the pitch, we are good. We keep possession, pass the ball around and create chances but our finishing is lacking. Our defending also is a cause for concern," he admitted.

Brasa added that the team was unable to translate on to the field what they practiced during training.

"Things like man-marking are areas we give importance to. We focus on this in training but in the match we forget, especially when we're under pressure. We need time to improve in these areas."

India captain Rajpal Singh was disappointed with the team's performance. "Last World Cup we finished eleventh, this time we finish eighth. That sounds like an improvement. But if you look at it, we only won one match in 2006 and even this time we got just one win," he said.

But the 26-year-old striker concluded on an optimistic note. "We will improve. We can do better. It will take time, but it will happen."