The national men's and women's teams of both Argentina and Great Britain enjoyed positive results in their latest FIH Hockey Pro League fixtures. On Saturday evening (8 February) in Buenos Aires, Argentina's women defeated USA for the second time in two days, while the men's team avenged Saturday's loss against Spain by claiming a 5-1 victory. The action then switched to Auckland (Sunday 9 February), where Great Britain's men emerged 3-0 winners over hosts New Zealand before the GB women edged the Black Sticks in a shoot-out to claim a precious bonus point.
The final match of a frenetic weekend of FIH Hockey Pro League action saw Belgium Red Lions face India in Bhubaneswar. India were looking to repeat their win from the previous day, but as Graham Reid said ahead of the game, "an injured lion is dangerous." And so it proved as Belgium edged it in a 3-2 thriller in the heat of the Kalinga Stadium.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina's women powered to a 6-1 win against Pan American rivals USA, ensuring that they took a maximum six points from their first two matches of the 2020 season. Las Leonas, 6-2 winners against the Americans on Friday (7 February), established a 3-0 lead in the opening quarter thanks to goals from Agustina Gorzelany, Delfina Merino and Carla Rebecchi, before USA’s Taylor West reduced the deficit two minutes ahead of half time. However, a Noel Barrionuevo double and second for Merino put the result beyond all doubt.
"We are very happy about these two wins”, said Argentina’s Carla Rebecchi, who was named Player of the Match. “Now we are thinking about our next match, which is against Holland next week. I think it is going to be a very tough match and it is always a special match that we like to play. I think we have to train very hard this week for that, as it is going to be a very nice weekend."
More information on this match can be found on our live reporting page by clicking here.
Argentina men were also winners on Saturday, with the reigning Olympic champions defeating Spain 5-1 to avenge Friday’s 4-3 loss against the Red Sticks. Martin Ferreiro’s blistering open play strike for Argentina was cancelled out by a trademark penalty corner drag-flick from Pau Quemada, leaving the teams level at half time. However, a three-goal burst from Lucas Vila, Jose Tolini and Lucas Martinez established a 4-1 advantage in the third quarter before Martinez claimed his second and Argentina’s fifth early in the fourth period.
"The difference [between today and yesterday] was that today we were in good form, we played really good during the game, so we are happy to get the three points”, said Player of the Match Lucas Martinez. “The next step for us will be next week against the Netherlands, which of course will be a really tough game, as is usual in the international games. We should get better on the defence and some structure in attack and penalty corners to try to beat the Netherlands."
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At the North Harbour Hockey Stadium in Auckland, Great Britain men's captain Adam Dixon produced a Player of the Match performance to help his team to a 3-0 away victory over New Zealand, scoring twice as the Brits claimed their first win of the 2020 season. Dixon put his team ahead just before the end of the first quarter with a powerful penalty corner drag-flick, and the score remained at 1-0 for the vast majority of the contest. Liam Ansell doubled Great Britain's advantage with a fourth quarter penalty corner before Dixon wrapped up the points with another drag-flick five minutes from time.
"Being brutally honest, we were disappointed with yesterday's result", said Dixon, referring to his team's shoot-out loss against the Black Sticks on Saturday. "We knew we did a lot of good things, we are experimenting, and finally today it started to click. I don't think we are the finished article, but we've come a long way over the course of the last three weeks away from home."
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Great Britain's women made it five points from a possible six against New Zealand, with Sunday's shoot-out success adding two points to the three earned in Saturday's 3-0 victory over the Black Sticks. Olivia Shannon put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half time, but third quarter strikes from Anna Toman and Grace Balsdon gave GB the advantage before Shannon tied things up in the fourth period with her second of the match, sending the contest into a shoot-out for the bonus point. Both teams converted four of their five initial shoot-out attempts, with Great Britain eventually winning in ‘sudden-death’ thanks to Tessa Howard's successful strike and goalkeeper Sabbie Heesh denying New Zealand captain Stacey Michelsen.
"I think we've made a big step up in the past few months", said Great Britain captain Hollie Pearne-Webb after the match. "We had some good performances in Australia which was really encouraging, and yesterday was a really dominant performance. Today in patches we dominated as well, so I think overall over this last month we have made a massive step up and we are all looking forward to the next few months in the lead-up to the Olympics."
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The final match of this weekend’s FIH Hockey Pro League programme saw India men attempt to repeat their performance from the previous day when they had beaten the reigning World and European champions Belgium in a closely-fought match. This time it was the Red Lions who had the better of the result, winning 3-2 after a high-paced and entertaining 60 minutes of top quality hockey.
It was Belgium who opened the scoring through a penalty corner rocket from Alexander Hendrickx. India equalised through Vivek Prasad and then took the lead when Amit Rohidas found the net. Belgium answered immediately with two goals from Maxime Plennevaux.
Speaking after the game, Player of the Match, Belgium's Nicolas de Kerpel said: "It [India] is always a really tough place to play. I hope the next time we play India, it is not so tough."
Speaking about his team's penalty corner routine, de Kerpel said: "It is all about rhythm. If we get the rhythm then we have the best penalty corner routine in the world. We scored from one today, so I hope that we are getting into the rhythm now."
Talking of his own performance, De Kerpel said: "I am happy to be here as Player of the Match but I know there is more improvements to be made to my game."
India's captain, Manpreet Singh, said: "I think we have learnt a lot of things over the two games. We had good opportunities but we didn't make the most of them."
He added: "I am really proud of the team. In our matches against Netherlands and Belgium, we started at a good pace from the first whistle and we are scoring in the first minutes. And we have good counter attacks, so now we need to make the most of those."
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FIH Hockey Pro League
Saturday 8 February 2020 – CENARD, Buenos Aires (ARG)
Women’s result: Argentina 6, USA 1 (Match 2 of 2)
Player of the Match: Carla Rebecchi (ARG)
Umpires: Ayanna McClean (TTO), Catalina Montesino (CHI) & Bruce Bale (ENG - video)
Men’s result: Argentina 5 Spain 1 (Match 2 of 2)
Player of the Match: Lucas Martinez (ARG)
Umpires: Federico Garcia (URU), Bruce Bale (ENG) & Catalina Montesino (CHI - video)
Sunday 9 February 2020 – North Harbour Hockey Stadium, Auckland (NZL)
Men’s result: New Zealand 0, Great Britain 3 (Match 2 of 2)
Player of the Match: Adam Dixon (GBR)
Umpires: Steve Rogers (AUS), Lim Hong-Zhen (SGP) & Irene Presenqui (ARG - video)
Women’s result: New Zealand 2, Great Britain 2 - 4-5 After Shoot-Out (Match 2 of 2)
Player of the Match: Georgia Barnett (GK - NZL)
Umpires: Aleisha Neumann (AUS), Irene Presenqui (ARG) & Lim Hong-Zhen (SGP - video)
Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar (IND)
Men's result: India 2, Belgium 3 (Match 2 of 2)
Player of the Match: Nicolas de Kerpel (BEL)
Umpires: Coen van Bunge (NED), Gareth Greenfield (NZL) & David Tomlinson (NZL - Video)
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