Argentina taken 11th position by beating South Africa 4-1 in the Hero Hockey Junior World Cup 2013

New Delhi, 14 December 2013: The African and American Champions were certainly expecting more from this competition, especially Argentina, traditionally doing well at the junior level and widely named amongst the favorites before the start of this 2013 Hero Hockey Junior World Cup.

South Africa were faster off the starting blocks and up by one goal within three minutes of play by Matthew Brown on penalty-corner. Argentina recovered from their shaky start and were back on par in the 13th minute thanks to a powerful low drag-flick by Gonzalo Peillat that slid off the stick of the post-defender.

Argentina increased their pressure and were all over the South African circle. Isidoro Carlos Ibarra missed a deflection at the far post by a whisker and they were denied a penalty-corner on a video-referral, but were finally rewarded in the 21st minute when Lautaro Diaz managed to put an end to a wild pinball session in front of Rene De La Peyre in the South African goal.

Joaquin Leonel Coelho added a field goal soon after and Argentina walked into the break with a fairly comfortable two-goal cushion. They carried their momentum in second period and Gonzalo Peillat added his second penalty-corner of the match in the 42th minute. South Africa collected a yellow card and, three goals and one man down, things looked rather bleak for them.

There were some heated exchanges and the umpires needed to distribute a number of cards to try and cool down the tempters, including a red one to Argentinean captain Gonzalo Peillat. The scoreline did not evolve anymore and Argentina finished the competition in 11th position, four places below their previous worst results in eight appearances in Junior World Cup.

Disappointed at losing the match, Darryn Galagher, Coach of the South African team said , “ Today’s game was very disappointing. In the first half we certainly had chances and we equally utilised them but in the second half we made a few mistakes and then lost momentum completely. Argentina is a very good and balanced team and deserved to win the game. This was a big tournament for the young boys as they have nothing for the next two years. Among the team, six players have the potential to play in the seniors team.”

Carlos Geneyro, Coach of the Argentina team said, “I am not satisfied with the overall performance of the team in the Tournament as we were targeting semi final or finals. Our team has very young players and experience of boys is not much either. Now we are focusing on World Hockey League which is starting next month. The captain of this team has lot of potential and I hope he will also be the part of senior team.”