Luciana Aymar slumped to the turf in disappointment after Argentina were held 2-2 by Britain today, their second successive draw hitting her chances of capping an illustrious career with an elusive Olympic gold.

But the four-times international player of the year is confident her team will regroup quickly enough to win their first Olympic gold after claiming medals in the last two Games.

“It (gold) means too much,” she told Reuters. “We were training for a year for this tournament.”

Dubbed “La Maga” (the magician) for her hockey skills, Aymar has won a long list of trophies since her debut 10 years ago, including a World Cup.

“We won the Champions Trophy, which was great, but that is not as big as this (Olympics),” said Aymar, who turned 31 on Sunday.

“This is my last Olympics. We can make it. We have to think positive.”
Argentina came into the Games as favourites after winning the Champions Trophy, but lost points in pool B by allowing the United States and Britain to rally for draws.

“In Argentina I said to everyone maybe playing US and GB is more difficult than better ones (teams). We tend to take it easy.”

“For me, it will be hurt if we don’t get one of the three medals,” she said with an impish smile.

“Gold is better, of course, because we have been training everyday for the gold medal. We have a good team, but we have to play better than we played today.”

Argentina are yet to play world champions Germany, Japan and New Zealand in the preliminary phase.