South Africa stun Argentina

08/12/2001

UNFANCIED South Africa stunned mighty Argentina 3-2 in the opening match
of the Champions Challenge at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil
yesterday.
Nobody gave them a ghost of a chance before the start of the tournament
but in the end, they walked away with three points as the Argentinians
wondered what went wrong.
The much-hyped Argentinians could do nothing right in the first half of
the match which was controlled by South Africa from the whistle.
Other than Mario Almada, who showed flashes of brilliance in the
semicircle, the rest of the Argentinian players looked tired and rarely
chased after the ball or made any piercing passes.
In the 11th minute, Argentina won their first penalty corner and Jorge
Lombi lived up to his tag as one of the deadliest penalty corner
specialists in the world with a flick which caught South Africa goalkeeper
Chris Hibbert rooted.
The goal failed to spur Argentina and instead, South Africa became
deadlier with their fast counter attacks and won their first penalty
corner in the 13th minute. They bungled the first penalty corner but were
awarded two more consecutive penalty corner and emerged third time lucky.
This time, Mike Cullen made a dummy and the ball reached Justin King who
flicked to the top of the net for the equalizer.
Argentina could do nothing right after the equalizer and goalkeeper and
skipper Pablo Moreira had to bring out the best in him to make some
spectactular saves in the first half.
The second half also belonged to South Africa as Argentina relied too
heavily on Lombi who had failed miserably when presented with penalty
corner opportunities in the 40th, 44th, and 48th minutes.
On all three occasions, Lombi flicked wide and the South African
defenders did not have to do much.
In the 58th minute, South African Neil Davis was presented with two
golden opportunities but they froze each time when goalkeeper Moreira
charged at him.
Argentina finally scored the elusive goal in the 59th minute when Mario
Almada beat three players and pushed in past goalkeeper Chris Hibbert.
But the joy was short lived as South Africa threw everything they had
into the match and in the last two minutes Craig Jackson made sure they
walked away with three points.
"We did nothing right today. The boys played good hockey in the first
half but that was it. In the final 10 minutes, we could do nothing right
and were punished," said Argentine coach Jorge Ruiz.
South African coach Rob Pullen said they were confident, even before the
match, that they could beat Argentina.
"We know that they relied heavily on Lombi for goals so we shut him out
of the match. All he does is flick, there is no variation in his penalty
corners so our runners did their job well and he flicked wide because his
angle was blocked," said Pullen.
jugjet@nstp.com.my
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