Formidable Australia, who had beaten France 8-0 in their opening match of the FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup, were held 3-3 by a spirited Argentina side in a Pool A game at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
The mighty Australians got a taste of their own medicine of attacking style hockey as Argentina players gave them a good run for their money throughout the game. There was not much to separate between both the sides in the game. In fact, Australia were fortunate enough to survive the scare of defeat thanks to the last moment equalizer by Blake Govers.
Australia opened the account by in-form Jeremy Hayward who converted a penalty corner as early as the ninth minute of the match. However, Argentina were not left much behind as Domene Tomas found the equalizer by converting a penalty corner nine minutes later.
The Australians got the upper hand again by Beale Daniel who struck a brilliant field goal in the 29th minute to take the lead again. Argentina was prompt enough to score the equalizer again through Casella Maico who struck a field goal three minutes later.
Argentina went on with their momentum and Ferreiro Martin increased their lead to 3-2 in the 48th minute field goal. With just 12 minutes left for the game, Australians went all-out and Govers made the scoreline 3-3 in the 57th minute through a fierce strike from the left flank.
France edge out Proteas
A late strike from Victor Charlet helped France keep their hopes alive to progress to the knock-out rounds of the ongoing FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup as they edged out a valiant South Africa 2-1 in their Pool A match at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Victor scored both the goals for the winning side by converting two penalty corners in the seventh and 56th minutes respectively. Beauchamp Connor scored the only goal for the Proteas by capitalizing on a penalty corner opportunity in the 15th minute.