India coach vents on referee
BHUBANESWAR: India coach Harendra Singh walked into the press conference fuming mad, and lambasted both the umpires after their 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands in Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final match in Bhubaneswar.
“Netherlands played with 13 men, and it was really unfair.
“This is the second time India have been given a raw deal in an international tournament this year by poor umpiring.
“The first was at the Asian Games (Indonesia).
“Again, we have been hit by unfair decisions at the World Cup.
“Teams spend so much on coaches and players, but in the end, poor decisions by umpires make them lose a tournament,” said Harendra on Thursday.
India and the Netherlands received two cards each in the match.
Hardik Singh and Amit Rohidas were shown a green and a yellow card, while Dutchmen Bob Voogd (green) and Mirco Pruijser (yellow) were also punished.
“Can anyone define Amit's yellow card? What about Manpreet (Singh), when he was pushed from behind? Why no yellow card there?
“We have lost two major tournaments this year — this, and the Asian Games — because of umpiring. I don’t agree with one of the penalty corners which was awarded to the Dutch,” said Harendra.
India finished sixth overall for their best finish since the 1994 Sydney edition, while the Netherlands take on defending champions Australia in the semi-finals.
The other semi-final is between England and Belgium.
Netherlands coach Max Caldex, who was in the press conference room waiting for his turn, heard every word uttered by Harendra.
When asked on the umpires: “We play our own game, and the umpires do not play, so I think it’s not appropriate for me to comment on them.
“And after a game, win or lose, we always analyse our performance and do not take external factors into account,” he said.
— Germany 1 2 Belgium, India 1 2 Netherlands
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England v Belgium (6.30pm), Australia v Netherlands (9pm)
* Malaysian time