In its penultimate pool match on Thursday, the Indian men's hockey team eased into the Olympic Games quarterfinals with a 3-1 victory against defending champions Argentina.
After goalless first two quarters, Varun Kumar gave India the lead in the 43rd minute, followed by goals from Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) in the last minutes to seal the game. Argentina's lone goal came in the 48th minute when Schuth Casella scored a penalty corner.
With this win, India has reinforced their place as the second-best team in Pool A, just behind Australia, with three victories and one defeat out of four games. Australia has won all of its matches so far.
Argentina is currently in fifth place in their six-team pool and must defeat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to remain in competition for a quarterfinal berth.
From each group, the top four teams will advance to the last 8th stage. Meanwhile, India's final pool game will be played tomorrow against host Japan, which is rooted to the bottom of the table.
Highlights
From the start, the Indians were aggressive and maintained pressure on the Argentine defence, attacking in great numbers. The opening quarter was fully dominated by India, which launched attack after attack, but the Argentines fought back fiercely to disappoint their opponents.
Despite this, the Indians dominated possession and repeatedly penetrated the Argentine circle, but the final pass was lacking.
In the third minute, Manpreet Singh's team took their first shot at goal. Nevertheless, Argentina goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi saved Dilpreet Singh's close-range shot from a Simranjeet Singh pass. In the first quarter, the midfield, led by Manpreet, played exceptionally well, as seen by the circle penetration statistics.
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When a diving Simranjeet's effort went over the post in the 27th minute, India was almost rewarded.
Argentina got the first real goal opportunity two minutes later, but Sreejesh's outstretched hands brushed away Nahuel Salis' powerful effort from the right corner of the circle. Both teams failed to secure a single penalty corner in the first half, leaving the game goalless at halftime.
The third quarter followed a similar pattern, with India continuing to squander opportunities. In the 35th minute, Gurjant Singh missed from close range, and minutes later, Rupinder Pal Singh missed back-to-back penalty corners. When Argentina's defence was caught off guard, the Indians' hearts were in their mouths, but Matias Rey couldn't beat Sreejesh in a one-on-one encounter.
Varun scored from the team's third penalty corner after 43 minutes to break the deadlock. As the third quarter came to an end, India squandered four successive penalty corners as Argentina defended valiantly.
However, Casella scored Argentina's first penalty corner in the 48th minute.
They had two more chances, one from a field effort by Lucas Villa that was saved by Sreejesh and the other from a penalty corner that the Indians fiercely defended.
Vivek restored India's lead two minutes before the final whistle, tapping in from a rebound after Dilpreet's attempt was saved by Vivaldi, and Harmanpreet put the final nail in Argentina's coffin by scoring the team's eighth penalty corner.
India is on its way to reclaiming sport status
The Indian team's performance this time indicates that they are on their way to restoring their former status in this sport. In addition, the Indian team set a new record by winning three games in the group round. After 37 years, the Indian team has managed to win three group stage matches. India last accomplished this feat in 1984.
Tomorrow, India will play against Japan. If India manages to win over Japan, then for the first time since 1972, the Indian team will win four games in the group stage. India won five of the seven group matches at the 1972 Olympics.
After it, India could not win more than three games in a single Olympic group stage. The Indian squad had never won more than two matches in the group stage after 1984.