Indian men's hockey team beat Argentina 3-1 in their fourth Pool A match to seal a spot in the quarter-finals of Tokyo Olympics 2020.
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Indian men’s hockey team beat Argentina 3-1 in their fourth Pool A match to seal a spot in the quarter-finals of Tokyo Olympics 2020. After a goalless first half Varun Kumar opened the scoring towards the end of the third quarter from a penalty corner. However Argentina immediately equalized through Casella Schuth. But the Indian’s showed great determination to get back the lead through Vivek Prasad, it was a field goal. And then Harmanpreet Singh extended the lead and sealed the three points for India. (Tokyo 2020 full coverage)
India started the match on the front foot as they made multiple circle entries in the initial minutes. Simranjeet Singh made a marauding run to the ‘D’ and gave the ball to Mandeep Singh, but his attempt was blocked by goalkeeper Juan Manuel Vivaldi. Two minutes after that Dilpreet’s attempt was once again denied by Vivaldi. India was easily the better team in the first quarter making seven circle penetrations compared to Argentina’s one.
India started the second half from where it had left in the first. Shamser Singh’s long grounded pass found Mandeep Singh inside the ‘D’, but his attempt missed the target. Meanwhile in the 27th minute, Argentina made its first attempt on target. But goalkeeper PR Sreejesh made a routine save to keep the score at 0-0. Although India dominated the posession, attacking and passing stats against the defending Olympic champions in the first half, they couldn’t break the deadlock. Argentina was very good defensively and soaked in all the pressure put in by India.
In the 42nd minute India earned back-to-back penalty corner’s but failed find the breakthrough. Meanwhile Argentina initiated a counter-attack almost immediately but the Indian custodian was alert to deny a one-on-one opportunity.
In the 43rd minute India broke the deadlock courtesy of a penalty corner from Varun Kumar, who was playing his first match of the campaign. The 26-year-old’s drag flick took a deflection of the first rusher and went past Vivaldi.
Three minutes into the fourth quarter Argentina earned their first penalty corner and they converted the set piece to level the score at 1-1 through Maico Casella’s stunning drag flick. However the fourth ranked team in the world didn’t let their heads down and took back the lead in the 57th minute through Vivek Prasad. Dilpreet’s close range pass was slotted in by Vivek. And two minutes after the second goal India extended the lead through Harmanpreet Singh. India’s eighth penalty corner was converted by Harmanpreet’s powerful drag flick.
It was a very important win for Graham Reid’s side as they have now moved to 9 points and are placed second in Pool A behind only Australia. The Bharat Army will face Japan in their final Pool A match on July 30.
