Bhubaneswar, March 19 : The Indian men’s hockey team went down 1-3 to Argentina in a shootout in the their FIH Pro League tie at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday. Gurjant Singh (38′) and Mandeep Singh (60′) scored goals for India while Nicolas Acosta (45′) and Nicolas Keenan (52′) scored for Argentina. Of their last 10 meetings, each side has won four times and there have been two draws. They are also close in the FIH World Rankings with India ranked fourth and Argentina sixth. Argentina unusually dominated possession kept India under a lot of pressure in the opening quarter. Martin Ferreiro came the closest to opening the scoring but his sharply taken shot was well saved by Krishan Pathak. The second quarter saw India move into a higher gear and create their own chances, including four penalty corner attempts. With Harmanpreet sitting on 98 goals for his country and seeking to reach a century of goals, the penalty corner striker was unable to turn India’s first three penalty corners into goals. Jugraj took the fourth penalty corner but his shot scuffed the surface and was cleared easily. PR Sreejesh replaced Pathak in India’s goal and was quickly called into action when he smartly cleared the ball after Harmanpreet was caught in possession in his defensive quarter. Argentina were reduced to 10 players after Nicolas Keenan was shown a yellow card at the end of the second half. As the second half got underway both teams got a little jittery. Passes went astray and possession was lost all too easily. The breakthrough came when Gurjant Singh scored a poacher’s goal. The ball was crashed forwards by Mandeep Singh and Gurjant was perfectly positioned behind the Argentina defence to tip it past Tomas Santiago in the Argentina goal. India had more chances in the quarter as their swift and precise passing left the Argentina players chasing shadows. However, it was Argentina, against the run of play, who scored the equaliser. Nicolas Acosta’s shot took a deflection and the ball shot past Pathak to bring the scores level. With seven minutes left, Argentina won a penalty corner. Keenen injected the ball and Nicolas della Torres played the ball back to Keenan, who lifted it home to give his team the lead. India nearly scored just seconds later as Shilanand hit the ball goalwards and Sukhjeet came tantalisingly close to directing it home, only to see it fly past . With India still pressing for a goal, a direct run by Jarmanpreet saw the player felled by an Argentina defender. The ensuing penalty corner was again well run down by Argentina’s number one runner, Thomas Habif. With under 60 seconds left on the clock, India managed to gain possession. A quick break saw the ball fall to Mandeep and he fired home the equaliser. Argentina took the bonus point in the ensuing shoot-out. Keenan, Tomas Domene, Lucas Toscani all scored for Argentina, and Santiago made a fabulous save from Abishek. For India, only Harmanpreet scored his attempt. BAV SHK2257
