Trailing 2-3, Pakistan scored three goals in the dying minutes, two of them inside a minute, to wrap it all up with a flourish and finish fifth in the tournament.
In perhaps the most fast paced match thus far, Pakistan fell behind when Argentina’s dangerman Jorge Lombi put one through goalkeeper Muhammad Qasim’s legs from their very first short corner on the 11th minute.
Pakistan who wasted two short corners before conceding that goal, pulled level 10 minutes later, Ali Raza sounding the board with a sizzling shot off the fourth set-piece and soon after Sohail Abbas fired in from the fifth to give the former champions a 2-1 lead.
But Argentina, 2-1 winners over Pakistan in the preliminary match, quickly struck back when Fernando Zylberberg dribbled into the semi-circle to equalise matters on the 29th minute. The teams tropped off for lemon-time with the match delicately poised and more goals and excitement in store.
When the players came back after a pep-talk, Pakistan controlled play initially but it were the Argentinians who seized the initiative when they were awarded a penalty stroke on the run of play.
The trusted Lombi stepped in to take it, coolly sending the ball high into the net to make the scores 3-2 for what was his 10th goal of the tournament. He would share the top spot with Sohail Abbas, who also got two goals in the match to finish with 10.
Pakistan, showing great urgency, mounted immense pressure on their rivals with the veteran star Shahbaz Ahmed, “perhaps” playing his last match, spearheading some good moves. These did not yield results though.
To compound Pakistan’s problems, Dutch umpire Peter Elders, after first awarding a stroke in the 50th minute that followed a penalty corner strike taken by Ali Raza, reversed his decision. The ball appeared to have hit the hand of a defender.
However, Pakistan, with their reputation at stake and time running out fast, were finally rewarded for their offensive play with two goals in the 62nd minute, the first by Sohail Abbas, who equalized off a set-piece and the second from Muhammad Nadeem that put the match in Pakistan’s grasp.
Argentina, also playing an attacking game, threatened the Pakistan defence and came dangerously close soon afterwards, Lombi weaving his way into the circle, but was thwarted well.
A last gasp effort featuring Shahbaz, Muhammad Saqlain and Kashif Jawad led to Pakistan’s fifth goal that came on the 70th minute with Kashif making no mistake in slamming the ball home to seal a deserved victory.
Pakistan manager Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, said that his side played particularly well in the last 10 minutes. “I think Shahbaz had a very outstanding match and initiated moves that unsettled the Argentinians.”
Khalid, said that there were again a few umpiring errors and felt that there was a need to have a third umpire and this could initially be experimented with by the International Hockey Federation in some small tournament.
*Playoff for 15th-16th place
Cuba 0 Poland 3
*Playoff for 13th-14th place
South Africa 5 Belgium 4
*Playoff for 11th-12th place
Spain 5 Japan 1
*Playoff for 9th-10th place
India 1 New Zealand 2
*Playoff for 7th-8th place
England 3 Malaysia 2
*Playoff for 5th-6th place
Argentina 3 Pakistan 5