Junior Hockey World Cup: India overcome Argentina to set up 9th place playoff against Pakistan

India were dominant as they defeated Argentina 4-2

There was finally something to cheer for India’s hockey fans, as the team overcame Argentina 4-2 today.

India was disappointingly knocked out of the group stage following a 3-3 draw with South Korea; Korea required only a draw while India needed to win the game to qualify for the last eight. The game versus Argentina was for the pride of the team, as they looked to finish at least in 9th place.

India started the game dominating possession but playing a safe game as they moved the ball around without trying to penetrate the penalty box. Four minutes into the game, an incisive pass was controlled by Ramandeep and he shot into the goal between the goal keeper and the near post and for the first time in the tournament, India took the first goal.

As soon as the play began, India won a penalty corner and converted it through Rohindas who shot the ball through the goal keeper’s legs into the goal. India was leading by two goals within the first six minutes as their quality clearly shone through.

India kept its dominance as Argentina rarely crossed their half in the first fifteen minutes. A neat one two from Indian forwards was saved by the Argentine goalkeeper in the 17th minute. Soon after, Argentina got two successive penalty corners and both were defended well by India.

The game settled down with India having the majority of the possession and Argentina did little to put India in any trouble.

A long pass into Argentina’s penalty box was hit into the side by Ramandeep in the 24th minute. Prior to that, Akashdeep received a green for obstruction of play.

India’s dominance showed as Mandeep’s shot was saved by the foot of the goalkeeper while Argentina resorted to fouls, resulting in Joaquin Trezza receiving a green card for shoving an Indian player.

Ramandeep was the man for India again as he dribbled past three Argentina players and shot into the goal from a narrow angle to give India a three-goal lead with five minutes left on the clock.

India comfortably kept the ball as the whistle blew for half time. India were clearly a notch above Argentina in the first half as they took a big 3-0 lead into half time.

Argentina started the second half in brighter form as they pulled back a goal three minutes into the second half through Martinez. But India soon got into the act as they won a penalty corner right after the restart. This time it was Gurjinder Singh who took the PC and hit it to the left of the keeper to score his fifth of the tournament.

The game slowed down as India attempted a lot of long balls while Argentina were still not able to penetrate the Indian defence. A badly taken penalty corner by Argentina led to India countering with pace but Akashdeep couldn’t control the ball. India continued to lay siege to Argentina’s goal and got a penalty corner for their efforts.

This time though, it was India’s turn to miss the penalty corner and Argentina took possession.

With 10 minutes left, India won another PC and it was deflected above the cross bar by the keeper. A couple of minutes later, India were close to scoring their fifth but the deflection hit the cross bar and went safely out.

With three minutes left in the game, Argentina won and fluffed a PC but got the ball back in and reduced the deficit to two goals. But that proved to be the last meaningful action in the game as India wrapped up the game thanks to a brilliant first half.

India will now take on Pakistan for the 9th place on December 14 at 8 PM IST.