A resurgent Indian men’s hockey team would look to seal a quarterfinal berth but defending champions Argentina won’t be an easy challenge to overcome when the two sides clash in their penultimate pool match of the Olympics on Thursday.
With two wins out of three games, world No 4 India are sitting pretty at the second spot in Pool A, which is being headed by the unbeaten Australians which boast of a perfect record till now from three games.
Argentina, currently ranked seventh in the world, are placed at the fourth spot with one win, a draw and a loss respectively.
Going by head-to-head records in recent times, India definitely has an edge over Argentina.
In the FIH Pro League double header earlier this year, India beat Argentina 3-2 in the shoot-out after the first game ended 2-2. They also registered a comfortable 3-0 win in the next game in Buenos Aires.
In the practice matches, which were part of Olympic preparation for both teams, the Indians registered a 4-3 win, 4-4 draw, 0-1 loss and 4-2 win respectively.