Eustice gives his analysis on the Hockey World Cup

Without picking up a win in four of their five Pool B games (the result against South Korea was a draw) Eustice and “The Lads” will be better for the experience gained in the Netherlands.

The team, however, produced a solid display against Malaysia in the 11th-place encounter, on Thursday, May 12.

The defender gives his personal analysis of what transpired in the last three Pool B games:

• South Korea: “This was our best game of the pool stage.

“We defended so well and for the full 70 minutes.

“Korea seemed to struggle to get into our circle and battled to get a good shot off.

“We had a few chances in the first half to go 1-0 up, but we could not seem to get the ball into the goal box.

“We managed to get a few penalty corners, which have been out strength in the past, but couldn’t execute the right play to score a goal.

“The final score was 0-0.

“We should’ve won that game, but a point was not the worst result for us at that time.”

• Netherlands: “Playing in front of almost 15 000 people, mostly dressed in orange, shouting for their national team to do well for over 70 minutes is something that I will never forget.

“Our skill-levels, tactical ability and our speed, compared to the Dutch team, were not even close.

“They just outplayed us, outran us and in the end beat us comfortably.

“We had our chances and we did manage to score a goal, but it was way too late.

“We lost this one 7-1.”

• Argentina: “We made this game one of the games for us to win.

“We have played them often enough to know their style of play and who to watch out for.

“We conceded early and they made it tough for us to get into a rhythm.

“They defended really well and caught us on the break/counter-attack often, which helped them get some penalty corners.

“We knew that their penalty corners with Gonzalo Peillat drag flicking off the top would be their ace card, so we prepared well for that – they managed to score one penalty corner.

“The second half got heated, with the yellow card being used to try and settle the game down.

“This created chances for us to use extra players, but we failed with our composure and hit a lot of direct balls into the circle with little success.

“We did score a goal, but again, it was way too late for any chance of a fight back.

“We lost this one 5-1.”