Argentina, Belgium advance
from Pool B
Kuldeep Singh
Argentina romped into the second round of the men's hockey World Cup qualifier after beating Belgium 2-1 in their third match in Pool B at the Peffermil stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Friday.
Their third straight victory gave them a maximum nine points and the top position in the pool, ahead of Belgium, France and Bangladesh, in that order.
Belgium and France were both in contention for the second spot from the pool, but Belgium, with four points, went through on better goal difference, after France were restricted by Bangladesh to a 5-2 victory in the following match.
The French needed to beat Bangladesh by a five-goal margin to seal a berth in the second stage of the tournament. They looked like getting there as they lead 4-0 at half-time, but the Asian minnows came up with a stubborbn display in the second session, during which they got two goals, to deny them a place.
In another match in Pool D, Canada proved too good for Russia, winning 3-1.
Canada, who lost to Poland on the first day of the tournament, and beat USA 4-2 on Thursday, completed their pool engagements with six points and joined Poland in the second round.
For their third successive match, Jorge Lombi was Argentina's hero. The veteran striker scored his sixth goal of the qualifier to put Argentina into the lead and then turned in a stellar display along with Mario Almada to hassle the Belgium defence.
Argentina forged ahead from their very first 11penalty-corner. Lombi sent the ball past goalkeeper Vincent Deneumostien's left with a powerful shot. That was in the 11th minute. Three minutes later, Lombi was well-placed to increase the tally but was fouled. And though Argentina couldn't capitalise on the resultant penalty-corner, they
managed to increased the tally minutes later -- in the 18th minute. This time it was Almada who scored.
The wily forward, who registered a hat-trick in the match against Bangladesh, beat a defender and the keeper with some good stickwork and sent the ball into the cage with a reverse hit from a narrow angle.
Two goals down, the Belgians, who needed at least a draw to advance from the pool, came back strongly and reduced the margin in the 25th minute from a penalty-corner. Joeri Beunen's drag flick gave goalkeeper Mariano Chao no chance whatsoever.
Belgium had another chance immediately but were unable to score.
In the second session, it was Argentina who were under pressure as Belgium went all out. In fact, they were all over the Argentina goal in the last ten minutes but failed to get past a stubborn defence.
In the 65th minute came Belgium's best chance to equalise but Mars Coudron's fine effort was stopped by a defender on the goalline after the keeper was beaten.
Thursday's summary
