Times of India: We could’ve won but a point is good: Lucas Vila
Feroz Khan
BHUBANESWAR: Argentine forward Lucas Vila said his team could have won the match against Germany after they played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Hockey World League Final on Sunday.
“Our second half was really good. In the last quarter, we had our chances we pressed up a lot. Could have won the game but at least we have point,” he said after the match.
Argentina were messy with their penalty corners, failing to make clean traps on multiple occasions but were lucky to still score thrice that enabled them to secure a point from the contest. But it came on that half of the pitch which has come under some criticism from teams in the past.
Players of the likes of India captain Manpreet Singh have also complained of a ‘bump’ on the D. Vila too laid the blame on the uneven surface saying the team might speak to International Hockey Federation (FIH) to get it rectified.
“I don’t know exactly what’s going on there. Holland had the same problem. We tried changing spots but we couldn’t trap. There seems to be some problem. We are going to talk to the FIH. If it doesn’t help, then we have to work our way around it,” he said.
Like other top teams, Argentina has also seen a lot of junior players making it to the national team and Vila, at 31, is a senior member of the team and says it’s their job to help the youngsters grow. “We have around seven new players in the team. We have to keep it competitive between each other. We have to make the young boys better. It’s an honour to be a part of this team because we have produced brilliant results in the past one year,” he said.
On which areas, his team must improve on, Vila said, “I think in both the circles (defensive and offensive). We need have to concede less penalty corners and need to get more of them for Gonzalo (Peillat) to score.”