India’s tale of woes continued as it twice conceded the lead to go down 4-2 to Argentina in a Pool B match to suffer its second consecutive loss in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament here on Sunday.
The home team, which showed signs of improvement, could not sustain the momentum and was at the bottom of its pool with just one match to go against the Netherlands on Tuesday.
The host seemed to have learnt its lessons from the defeat against Germany and tried to control the ball to gain some rhythm. Sardar Singh marshalled the midfield with command as the home side pushed hard, predominantly from the right flank.
However, India struggled with its finishing and could not benefit from its frequent forays into the Argentine circle. Once Sardar took the ball inside and passed it on to Dharamvir Singh, who relayed it to S.V. Sunil only to see the chance go waste.
Unlucky On another occasion, India was unlucky when Kothajit Singh precisely passed it to Lalit Upadhyay but the latter’s shot hit the crossbar in the second quarter.
After eight circle penetrations in the first two quarters, Gurjinder Singh’s diagonal through-ball bisected the Argentine field and Akashdeep Singh deflected in from the goalmouth to put India ahead in the 30th minute.
Nevertheless, the host’s joy was short-lived as the Pan American champion levelled the scores within seconds through Lucas Vila’s field goal.
In the eventful third quarter, India regained the lead following a few minutes of tussle. The young Gurjinder was again in focus as he converted India’s first penalty corner in style, his high flick hitting the back of the Argentine net.
Video referral Almost immediately, Gonzalo Peillat’s bullish shot from long range was tapped in by Juan Lopez to make it 2-2. India would have regained the lead had Gurjinder’s high slap-shot from a short corner not been disallowed following a video referral in the 42nd minute.
The experienced Argentine strike force, including Vila, Facundo Callioni and Augustin Mazzilli, systematically built pressure to counter attack and the Indian defence started to crumble in the final period.
P.R. Sreejesh showed presence of mind to thwart Vila’s attempt, but comeback man Mazzilli deflected a Jaquin Menini cross in to put his team ahead. Menini slotted home in the dying minutes to seal Argentina’s first win.
Belgium benefited from Tom Boon’s dramatic last second goal to draw with Australia 4-4.
England demolished Pakistan 8-2 to register its biggest win ever over the former champion in the event. The Netherlands also notched up its second win by thrashing Germany 4-1 in Pool B.
The results:
Pool A: Belgium 4 (Sebastien Dockier 25, Florent van Aubel 30, John-John Dohmen 38, Tom Boon 60) drew with Australia 4 (Chris Ciriello 16, Eddie Ockenden 19, Jacob Whetton 21, Flynn Ogilvie 37); England 8 (Mark Gleghorne 15, Nick Catlin 17, David Condon 19, Barry Middleton 24, Ashley Jackson 26, Samuel Ward 45, Alastair Brogdon 48, Chris Griffiths 59) bt Pakistan 2 (Muhammad Arslan Qadir 57, Muhammad Irfan 60).
Pool B: The Netherlands 4 (Constantijn Jonker 11, Diede van Puffelen 25, Rogier Hofman 29, Seve van Ass 51) bt Germany 1 (Florian Fuchs 56); Argentina 4 (Lucas Vila 30, Juan Lopez 37, Augustin Mazzilli 49, Joaquin Menini 59) bt India 2 (Akashdeep Singh 30, Gurjinder Singh 37).
