Kookaburras Upset by Argentina at Five Nations Tournament

The Kookaburras indifferent form during their European tour has continued, going down 3-2 to Argentina at the Five Nations Challenge tournament in Paris.

Despite missing several senior players from the line-up, the Kookaburras still had what many would consider a stronger team than Argentina who are ranked 11th in the world. However their inability to convert their scoring opportunities coupled with the penalty corner accuracy of Argentina’s Ignacio Berner proved the difference in the end.

The Kookaburras made a great start when Chris Ciriello, who had scored two penalty corner goals in their previous victory over Ireland, continued his precision, converting from a penalty corner after 20 minutes.

However Argentina was not to be outdone from penalty corners, with Ignacio Berner stepping up to convert two corners within two minutes late in the first half to give the South Americans the half time lead.

Things did not improve after half time, with Berner converting his third goal of the match at the 54 minute mark to complete his hattrick.

Acting Kookaburras captain Matthew Butturini did his best to get Australia back in the match, reducing the margin after he scored the Kookaburras’ second goal of the match 56 minutes.

Despite a number of penalty corner attempts for the remainder of the match, the Kookaburras failed to convert, giving Argentina an upset victory.

The Kookaburras will next play Korea at 11pm EST on Saturday 30th July.

-Hockey Australia