Tokyo 2020: The Lions thrashed and qualified for the quarterfinals

07/30/2021 8:39 AM

• Clarín.com

• sports

Updated 07/30/2021 9:01 AM

There are hugs and smiles.

The Olympic champions had not gotten off to a good start on their Tokyo 2020 adventure and were playing a game to win or die against New Zealand.

They even confessed that they planned it as a round of 16, because the one who lost was left out of the Olympic Games.

But the Lions overcame the test with flying colors, because they thrashed 4-1, qualified for the quarterfinals and managed to avoid the best in zone B.

Argentina started down on the scoreboard due to Kane Russell's goal but went ahead at halftime due to goals from Lucas Martínez and Lucas Vila.

In the third quarter, the drag of Leandro Tolini widened the difference with his drag in the short corner, while at the end of the match Nicolás Keenan put definitive figures on him.

The field hockey team had gone from lowest to highest.

After two losses, a draw and a victory, this time against New Zealand they showed superiority despite the fact that at 15 minutes they found themselves 0-1 because New Zealand took the initiative and took advantage of their first set through Russell.

But the defenders of the gold medal tied a minute later in an attack action culminated by Lucas Martínez.

And, as an extension, the second goal came at the beginning of the second quarter with the signing of Lucas Vila, a move after which New Zealand was left behind by the green card to Jake Smith.

Although they took advantage of that situation to generate two short corners, the effectiveness was not on the side of Leandro Tolini, who took revenge in the 44th minute on his third attempt. 

Before, in a new inferiority of the team that Glenn Turner directs for the yellow to his captain, Blair Tarrant, Argentina had two other options through the set play that did not end in a goal, although Nicolás Keenan's shot did in the final minute to put the 4-1 in a game already resolved.

"To a game of another medal. Concentration and discipline", Chapa Retegui harangued them at the end of the game, when the group gathered in a hug in the center of the field, while the New Zealanders watched the scene devastated by being eliminated.

Argentina, meanwhile, was third in zone A and will be measured with the second in zone B, which will come from the Netherlands and Germany.

What is certain is that he will avoid Belgium, the one who won the Olympic final five years ago in Brazil. 

"It's a relief. The smile is because how we won it was shown that this team is up for more, it is not the one that lost to India.

We take this match as the round of 16 because the one that lost was left out.

Now a new tournament begins

.

" , remarked Vila, author of one of the goals, in TyC Sports.

Pedro Ibarra, the captain of Los Leones, also emphasized that now "another tournament is starting." "We arrived at the stadium with a tickle in the belly and a lot of anxiety. We planned this game as if it were a round of 16,

we changed the format of the tournament

. And we worked very well and we got the experience that the team had. Now, we are in quarters and we know that now another tournament is starting, "he explained.

In addition, he pointed out that the Olympic champions cling to the "spirit" to seek a new medal, after making history in Rio 2016. "It was a very difficult year of preparation without competition, putting together the team here. We are very well physically because we do not stop from training but

we couldn't leave Argentina to compete, so the zone was used for that

, and I think we got to the quarterfinals well, "he said.

The quarterfinals will begin on Saturday at 9:30 p.m. in Argentina and will run until Sunday at 9.