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| June 29, 2008 | Sunday | Jamadi-us-Sani 24, 1429 |
Argentina eyeing final berth after fine win over S. Korea: Champions Trophy
ROTTERDAM, June 28: Argentina defeated South Korea 4-2 to reach 10 points in the men’s field hockey Champions Trophy here on Friday to give themselves a chance of a finals berth on Sunday.
Argentina’s best result in their three previous Champions Trophy appearances was fifth place in 1987 and 2003 but they must wait until the last two round robin matches to see if they will play in the final.
If Spain beat Germany and Australia beat Netherlands, Argentina will be out of the final on goal difference.
Fresh from their surprise 4-3 defeat of Netherlands on Thursday, South Korea packed their backfield with four defenders in the first half and gave few scoring chances to Argentina.
Matias Paredes converted Argentina’s first penalty corner late in the first half to take a 1-0 lead to the break.
South Korea started the second half with more strikers than defenders, gaining an early penalty corner for Jong Hyun Jang to convert for the equaliser.
Argentina’s second goal came from five passes through South Korea’s midfield for Rodrigo Vila to dive and flick into the top of goal from an acute angle on the right, replicating Santiago Freixa’s goal against Australia.
Argentina sealed the match with penalty corner conversions minutes apart in the last quarter by Juan Gilardi and Rodrigo Vila.
South Korea came back in the last 10 minutes, trying to use their superior fitness to out-run Argentina.
The tough match against Netherlands Thursday took its toll and South Korea could only force a penalty stroke, slotted inside the left post along the pitch by Jang to take him to the highest scorer of the tournament with six goals alongside Germany’s Florian Keller.
Argentina coach Carlos Retegui attributed the win to the second half effort, and South Korea’s tough match against Netherlands.
“We played better in the second half with more confidence and control,” Retegui said. “What happened to South Korea happened to us when we played Spain without a rest day in between,” he said.
Saturday’s matches to conclude the round robin are between Germany and Spain followed by Netherlands against Australia.—AFP
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