Indian men’s hockey team beat Argentina 3-1 to seal knockout berth
Tokyo: The Indian men’s hockey team stormed into the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina on Thursday, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of its penultimate pool match. After goal-less first two quarters, India broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute through Varun Kumar before Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck in the closing minutes of the match to seal the contest.
Argentina’s lone goal came from a penalty corner conversion by Schuth Casella in the 48th minute.
By virtue of this win, India have consolidated their position in the second spot of Pool A with three wins and one loss out of four games, behind Australia.
Argentina are struggling at the fifth spot in the six-team pool and need to beat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.
The top-four make the last-eight stage from each group.
India will take on Japan in their final pool match on Friday.
India chief coach Graham Reid lauded his players for their performances but said it definitely wasn’t easy against Argentina despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise. “Good performance today. This is what Argentina can do, they sit back in the game, and then all of a sudden they score a corner. You know these things can happen when you play a team like Argentina,” he said about the goal conceded by India.
Reid reminded his players about the missed opportunities but was happy that they adopted a patient approach and stuck to their game plan.
“We again put our opportunities away, we created enough. But what was good is that we didn’t let that frustrates us, we stayed patient and stuck with the game plan. I’m very happy, it can be a bit stressful too for me,” the Australian said.