Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Hockey World Cup: 11th ranked Argentina stun Olympic champions Germany 1-0


Argentina caused the biggest upset of the Rabobank Hockey World Cup upstaging Olympic champions Germany by a solitary goal in a Pool B tie at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague, Netherlands.

The second ranked Germans were kept on a tight leash by the persevering Argentinean defence, who threw everything they had in order to stay competitive. The spadework of the South Americans paid off when Manuel Brunet gave the 11th ranked side an unexpected lead close to half-time.

Germany needed to produce a strong showing in the second half, but Argentina were a resilient lot, thwarting all their designs with aplomb. Germany were not able to engineer a single penalty corner throughout the match, which speaks something about the determined Argentinean backline.

In another game, hosts and world number three the Netherlands rallied to overcome Korea 2-1. Jeroen Hertzburger brought the Dutch back into the contest after Korea took an early lead through Nam Hyunhoo. The match seemed poised for a stalemate before Robert Kemperman nailed the winning goal with just one minute remaining. New Zealand rode on Andy Hawyard’s hat-trick to drub South Africa 5-0 in another men’s Pool B game.

The day turned out to be one of upsets as 7th ranked China humbled 4th ranked England 3-0 in a women’s Pool B game while 10th ranked USA drew 2nd ranked and defending champions Argentina 2-2. Germany trounced South Africa 4-1 in another women’s match.

The writer can be contacted at: suhridbarua@gmail.com

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