It was Belgium’s 2-1 winning score-line against India in the final of the Four Nations Invitational Hockey Tournament might not tell the extent of the story, but the sub-plots all went to plan. Indian Hockey team dream broken once again when they was defeated in the final against Belgium. India had defeat the host Kiwis in the semifinals to punch their ticket to final.

At Blake Park, awash with sunshine and smoothened over by a cool breeze, Belgium began proceedings as they always do high pressure with India ending as they usually do missed chances, moving well, yet being threaded out by that frustrating margin of a goal that would force Indian coach Sjoerd Marijne back onto the drawing board. Marijne will not be upset with the Indian display. But the constant question swirling inside most players and his head would be, how to put it past Belgium?

There were opportunities today despite the fact that Belgium had more penalty corners than the Indians it was 7 to 3, but the creation that goes into a field goal was something that would make the team management happy. But old issues like closing down the gaps and controlling the ball inside the opponents' striking circle still made you wonder as to how players who go with such fluidity inside the striking circle, fail to whack it in.