BHUBANESWAR: Agustin Mazzilli and Gonzalo Peillat scored a brace each to help Olympic champions Argentina eke out a 4-3 win over Spain, while New Zealand scraped past France 2-1 in their opening matches of hockey World Cup here Thursday.

Six places may separate the two teams in world rankings but world number eight Spain gave Argentina, ranked second, a run for their money in the high-scoring match that produced end-to-end hockey.

The Los Leones had to dish out every trick from their arsenal to get the better of a fighting Spanish side, which matched their rivals in every department throughout.

Argentina will play New Zealand in their next pool match on December 3, while Spain will be up against France.

Mazzilli (fourth, 15th minutes) and Peillat (15th, 49th) were the goal scorers for Argentina, while Spain’s goals came from the sticks of Enrique Gonzalez (third), Josep Romeu (14th) and Vicenc Ruiz (35th).

In the day’s second Pool ‘A’ match, New Zealand scored two field goals through Kane Russell (16th) and Stephen Jenness (56th) to get the better of France. France’s lone goal came a minute away from the final hooter through a penalty corner conversion by Victor Charlet (59th).

In a see-saw contest, Gonzalez handed Spain an early before Mazzilli deflected a right wing cross perfectly to the net in the next minute to level the score.

Spain took a 2-1 lead after Romeu found the back of the net however, within 45 seconds of conceding the second goal, Argentina replied back as Mazzilli struck again.

Soon, the South Americans extended the lead as drag-flicker Peillat converted a corner.Vincenc Ruiz brought Spain back into the contest after a field goal but Peillat scored again for Argentina after placing a shot between two defenders which the Spanish goalkeeper Fred Soyez failed to save.

New Zealand joined Argentina on three points when they pipped France in the other match at the Kalinga Stadium.

After a goalless first quarter, Russell scored for New Zealand bef­ore France failed to convert num­­rous opportunities to equalise.

With four minutes to go, a long pass from midfield was well controlled by Jenness who made no mistake in finding the back of the net to embellish New Zealand’s lead.

It seemed France wouldn’t be able to open its account but Charlet converted a penalty corner to pull one back.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018