India’s 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the Pool E encounter of the Hockey World Cup has put them on the brink of elimination from the tournament. Duco Telgenkamp, Tjep Hoedemakers and Tjhis van Dam scored for Netherlands while Harmanpreet Singh pulled one back for India but that wasn’t enbough to escape defeat.

With this win, Netherlands now top Pool E with 6 points while India are on 0 points. The group consists of England as well as Argentina with only the top 2 teams making their way to the semifinals stage. Under the rules of the new format, since India have already lost to England, they will not face them again in this phase, but England carry three points forward, making victories in India’s remaining matches all the more important. The Netherlands also carried three points in the second round having defeated the Argentina in the first round.

Can India still reach the semifinal stage?

Harmanpreet and team can still reach the semifinals but it’s a pretty difficult road from here on out as a lot of things have to go their way for them to leapfrog England, who are currently in second position.

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How can India qualify for the semis?

Firstly, for India to qualify, they will hope that Saturday’s late match between Argentina and England does not end in a draw or an England win. In case of a draw, India will be out and in case England win, both India and Argentina will be eliminated. The only way India stay alive till the last day of the Pool E matches is if Argentina defeat England on Saturday.

In that case, both Argentina and England will be on 3 points with India next playing Argentina. On the last day, India will hope that Netherlands defeat England and then Harmanpreet and team have to heavily defeat Argentina to finish with 3 points and go over England on goal difference.