BHUBANESWAR: Olympic champions Arge­ntina lived up to their billing and beat New Zealand 3-0 to inch closer towards a direct quarter-final spot at the men’s hockey World Cup here on Monday.

Argentina were the better side on display as they created more chances and scored thrice through Agustin Mazzilli (23rd), Lucas Villa (41st) and Lucas Martinez (55th) to pocket full three points from the Pool ‘A’ encounter at the Kalinga Stadium.

By virtue of two wins from as many games, Argentina are atop Pool ‘A’ with six points and they have brightened their chances of a direct berth in the last eight round.

New Zealand are at the second place with three points from two games ahead of Spain and France, both of whom have one point each after playing out a 1-1 draw earlier in the day.

Timothee Clement’s sixth-minute goal for France was cancelled out by Spain’s Alvaro Iglesias in the 48th minute of the match.

Argentina will play France in their last pool match on Thursday, while New Zealand will be up against Spain with second in the pool on the line. Even with a loss, New Zealand would advance to the crossover knockout round unless France upset Argentina.

After a dull opening quarter, Argentina took the lead when Mazzilli scored his third goal of the tournament.

An inch-perfect defence-splitting pass from Gonzalo Peillat found Mazzilli unmarked inside the New Zealand box and the striker first controlled the ball and then sent it crashing into board with a reverse hit.

Argentina extended their lead through Villa, who slotted home in the 41st minute after snatching the ball inside the box from the sticks of New Zealand skipper Blair Tarrant.

They completed the scoring when Martinez scored from a rebound after a penalty corner.

France took an early lead with a goal by Clement from a field effort. But Spain came back strongly after the change of ends and restored parity through Iglesias’ field strike.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018