The India men’s hockey team stormed into the quarter finals of the Olympic Games with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina, scoring two goals in the final two minutes of their penultimate pool match in Tokyo on Thursday.
After goalless first two quarters, India broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute through Varun Kumar before Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck in the closing minutes of the match to seal the contest.
It was India’s third win in Pool A at the Oi Hockey Stadium.
Argentina’s lone goal came from a penalty corner conversion by Schuth Casella in the 48th minute. By virtue of this win, India, led by Manpreet Singh, have consolidated their position in the second spot of Pool A with three wins and one loss out of four games, behind Australia.
Argentina are struggling on fifth spot in the six-team pool and need to beat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to stay in the hunt for a quarter-final berth.
The top-four make the last-eight stage from each group.
India will take on Japan in their final pool match on Friday.
Chief coach Graham Reid lauded his players but said it definitely wasn’t easy against Argentina despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise.
“Good performance today (Thursday). This is what Argentina can do, they sit back, and then all of a sudden they score a corner. You know these things can happen when you play a team like Argentina,” he said about the goal conceded by his team.
Reid reminded his players about the missed opportunities but was happy that they adopted a patient approach and stuck to their game plan.
“We again put our opportunities away, we created enough. But what was good is that we didn’t let that frustrate us, we stayed patient and stuck with the game plan. I’m very happy, it can be a bit stressful too for me,” the Australian said.
The Indians put pressure on the Argentine defence from the beginning, attacking in numbers. They dominated the first quarter, mounting attacks after attacks but the Argentines defended stoutly to frustrate their opponents.
India nonetheless dominated possession and penetrated the Argentine circle on numerous occasions but the final pass was missing. It was a frustrating first half as both teams failed to secure a single penalty corner to head into the breather goalless.
The script was similar in the third quarter as India continued to waste chances.
First Gurjant Singh missed from close range in the 35th minute and then Rupinder Pal Singh wasted back-to-back penalty corners minutes later.