S2H Team

India brace for tricky opponents Argentina in the FIH Pro League encounter in Buenos Aires on Saturday. The teams have played two practice games with India winning the first 4-3 and drawing the second 4-4 and the visitors could use the psychological advantage in the double header.

India, playing their first FIH Pro League, have had a long Covid-induced hiatus in official international hockey. Their last match was the FIH Pro League match against Australia in February 2020 and taking on the hosts in the double header at the Cernard Stadium in the Argentine capital will be a challenge.

India shook off competitive inactivity with a successful tour of Europe in February, registering an unbeaten run that started with a remarkable 6-1 win over Germany in Krefeld after which they drew the second 1-1. At Antwerp, Belgium, India drew with Great Britain in the first (1-1) before ending the tour with a 3-2 victory over the same opponents.

Argentina are the reigning Olympic champions but India beat the South Americans 2-1 in a pool match at Rio 2016 where the South Americans got the better of Belgium 4-2 in the final to wrest their first Games gold.

Head coach Graham Reid made no secret that India are wary of the Argentineans. He reportedly said: “Argentina are a very good and very skilful team. They like counterattacking. They often will move the ball around deliberately ‘in and out’ to lull you into a false sense of security and then they will attack suddenly, win a penalty corner and you find you are 1-0 down. They are a very dangerous side. They have really good 3-D skills and we are hoping to counteract that with some good 3-D tackling. They are going to be difficult games against the Olympic champions on the other side of the world, but we are certainly looking forward to it.

Argentina themselves have had to cope with a Covid-induced lull and were a tad rusty against Germany in their double header at Cenard. The Olympic champions lost 2-3 and 0-3 but one dare says that they are far better prepared now than against the Germans.

With the Olympics looming, Reid said that playing Argentina in the FIH Pro League along with six more matches against Germany, Great Britain and Spain, will go a long way in preparing for the Olympics in July-August.

Starting with Argentina, the Australian was quoted as saying: “Of course, victorious results would be great, but I think the most important things for us is to get familiar with the way that we play. We will come up against different oppositions to test our theories but also to test the way we play and how we solve problems that other teams will bring to us. That learning – how to solve problems on the go – that is why we are looking forward to playing the Olympic champions, so we can get that extra high level of competition.

What Next

INDIA – ARGENTINA:  at 1.30 AM (IST) on Sunday. Live Telecast on Star Sport Select 2.