Ignacio Nardolillo stunned Australia with a late goal as defending champions Argentina overcame palpitations in this high-intensity Men’s Junior World Cup Group A match at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
The Argentines and Australians got off the blocks quickly and had several chances to break the duck, only to rue the opportunities.
As the match headed into the remaining two minutes of regulation time, Nardolillio trapped the ball from a pass in the semicircle and slammed it past goalkeeper Max Larkin, and into the goal, much to the joy of the Little Lions.
In the 2021 JWC in Bhubaneswar, India, Nardolillo scored a goal against Pakistan and Belgium.
Juan Gilardi, Argentina coach said: “Yesterday, we received our equipment that had gone missing, and we are happy. We had this tremendous good feeling that we are now able to start our journey in the Junior World Cup. The confidence was good. There were too many tensions in the match. Australia is a good team, and facing them is always not easy. We have to be focused on many things.”
“The experience of four of our players playing in the JWC in India two years ago was very important, and that helped us today. Now we have to prepare against Malaysia, and it is going to be another very tough match for us. We will plan our match against Malaysia after watching Chile play.”
Jay Stacy, the Australia coach, said: “It was a bit disappointing.” I think we can tie things up in our defensive area; sometimes the ball movement was too slow. I also think some of the boys were a bit nervous in this first match. Not an excuse but a reality for young players, and I am sure it was the same with Argentina as well.”
Meanwhile, Spain overpowered Canada with a stern test and eventually triumphed 7-0 for a grand start in Group C of the Men’s Junior World Cup (JWC).”
The Junior Red Sticks have played in 11 out of 12 JWC championships, and their best performance was winning a bronze medal at the Rotterdam 2005 event.
Midfielder Oriol Bozal scored a brace via penalty corner conversions in the 44th and 45th minutes. Nicolas Alvarez (2nd min), Pol Cabre (11th), team captain Andreas Rafi (18th), Xavier Barutell (52nd), and Bruno Font (55th) score apiece.
Oriol Torras, the Spain coach, said: “It is a very good game.” I am very happy with this performance, and now we have to prepare for the most difficult match against India in our next game to repeat this performance.
“Maybe the weather is not the best, but it is the same for both teams. We need to adapt to this weather and play our best. Performance. It’s been a long journey since we finished 4th in Euro, and we have been working to get in the best shape. If the performance of the team performs well against India and Korea, we have a good chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals.” ”
Geoffrey Matthews, the Canada coach, said: “We have some players who have never been to the Junior World Cup, and we also struggled with the speed.” It was much better in the second half, but we had already let in three goals
“For us, if we want to improve, we have to play more against the top three teams. The Pan American Championships was a good experience, with Chile giving us a good match in the semifinals. Our next match against Korea is a tough team, and we have to minimize our mistakes.”
Results
Spain 7 Canada; Argentina 1 Australia 0
