Defending champions Argentina came out on top in this highly anticipated encounter against host Malaysia, boosting their confidence level with a 4-0 victory in the Men’s Hock‘ey Junior World Cup (JWC) at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil tonight.
The Young Tigers, surprisingly, lost what they had on Tuesday night – snuffing out the fire in Chile with a 7-1 victory. But coach Amin Rahim’s players were never anywhere near a potent force against the Little Lions tonight.
Following this triumph, Argentina is now through to the quarterfinals stage. They top Group A with six points, while Malaysia and Australia are placed second and third, respectively, with three points in the standings. Chile is at the bottom following two big defeats – similar 1-7 defeats to Malaysia and Argentina.
The Malaysians are now faced with a do-or-die mission for survival against Australia in their last Pool A match on Friday. A win against the Australians will see the Young Tigers book a ticket into the quarterfinals.
Argentina’s scorers were Bautista Capurro (20th min), Marco Aguirre Gomes (28th), team captain Inaki Minadeo (44th), and Juan Fernandez (48th).
Meanwhile, in an earlier match, Australia crushed a helpless Chile 7-1 to consolidate its position in Group B.
The Burras, who lost to Argentina 0-1 on Tuesday, have three points from this victory.
Jay Stacy’s colts now face the Malaysians, which will decide which team advances to the quarterfinals.
Forward Craig Marais scored a hat-trick, while Cooper Burns, Brodee Foster, Cambell Geddes, and Will Mathison added one apiece. Chile scored one through Joaquin Munoz.
We did our job and earned four penalty corners. But we just did not get it right in the execution. But I have to commend the players as they gave their best for 60 minutes, and in the end, we did not score. We had many chances.”
Gilardi, the Argentina coach, said: “It was a tough match. We knew that it was going to be a physical match because Malaysia had often played man-to marking. We tried to run many times to look for space.
Finally, we scored and became more confident. The results was good for us. One of our goals is to have a very strong defence. We also watched the Malaysian team, and they have two or three penalty corner drag-flick specialists. We were also happy with our goalkeeper’s performance.
It was a different kind of match, and it was difficult. We have to be in control in most of the match. If we let them move or make a mistake, we would have been courting trouble.”
Jay Stacy, the Australia coach, said: “The pitch is wet, and it is beautiful. I think it was important for us to play a little more possession game. Neverthess, the boys did a good job. We passed the ball much better today, and structurally, we had shape and did well. Having said that, Chile is not very experienced at the international level and made it easier for us.
There wasn’t much pressure, and we had more space. But Chile still provided good opposition to us, and I respect them for that.
I am looking forward to a very good match against the Malaysians. They are an improving young team and have some dynamic young players. Some good speed and skillful players. We have to be at our best,”
Mattias Amoroso, the Chile coach, says: “I am proud of my players. They played hard against one of the best teams in the tournament. My players played well in some quarters. In the third quarter, there was no scores, the defence was solid, and I am very happy for the team.”
