Argentina exacted revenge over New Zealand here yesterday, scoring a 2-1 victory to register their fourth win and a place in the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament with a match to spare.
The South Americans topped the seven-nation standings on 13 points from five matches. They will complete their round-robin fixtures against Canada on Saturday.
Argentina, who failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics after losing 2-3 to the Kiwis in the final of the qualifiers in Auckland in February, went on the offensive from the start.
The Argentines took the lead through forward Martin Juan Lopez in the ninth minute and went two-up with a penalty stroke conversion by Ignacio Juan Gilardi eight minutes later.
New Zealand pulled a goal back through Benjamin Collier in the 27th minute.
In the second half, Kiwis surged forwards and earned five penalty corners but goalkeeper Manuel Juan Vivaldi stopped all their attempts.
Argentina coach Jose Carlos Retegui said: “We started off well by taking a 2-0 lead. But my players were exhausted in the second half because of the humid weather.
“It was difficult to play in such hot conditions. Besides that it was also our fifth match in six days.”
Three-time champions Pakistan fell to a surprise 3-5 defeat by Belgium and need to beat India today to qualify for the final.
The scorers for Belgium were Thomas Briels (2nd), John-John Dohmen (18th), Charles Vandeweghe (24th), Jerome Dekeyser (37th) and Loic Vandeweghe (69th). Pakistan got their goals from Shakeel Abbasi (4th), Rehan Butt (23rd) and Muhammad Ateeq (35th).
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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