Las Leonas Too Strong for Hockeyroos in NZ Final
The Hockeyroos concluded their New Zealand campaign in the finals against Argentina walking out with their heads held high after playing a fast paced and high intensity match, but ultimately went down 3-0 to Argentina in the final.
The Hockeyroos showed good passages of play dominating the majority of the ball possession in the first half of the match. Fired up and ready to take on world number two Argentina found the Hockeyroos connecting well as a team creating themselves opportunities both in their defence and attacking circles.
Scores were deadlocked for the first 28 minutes, leaving the game open for either team to make the golden move which was quickly snapped up by Argentinian Rocio Moccia Sanchez heading into half time with a 1-0 lead.
The Hockeyroos quickly found themselves in trouble coming into the second half. Argentinian Luciana Aymar broke down the Hockeyroos structure resulting in their second goal being conceded with a quick one, two, three move. Carefully deflected into the back of the goals by Delfina Merino gave Argentina a 2-0 lead at the 41st minute mark.
The Hockeyroos defence showcased good composure and structure which limited Argentina to successfully score off the back of four penalty corners.
50 minutes into the match Luciana Aymar called for another penalty corner after the ball hit a Hockeyroos foot. Setting up what was to be a power attacking battery was quickly rejected by Hockeyroos goalkeeper Rachael Lynch. Argentina fighting to get the possession of the ball back quickly worked another penalty corner this time finding its way beyond Lynch in goal pushing them in front of the Hockeyroos with a 3-0 victory.
Speaking after the match Hockeyroos head coach Adam Commens said, “Today was a disappointing result for us. We came into the match fairly confident that we had improved since our first match against Argentina. The first half was good, we created some chances to score and we kept the match fairly even.”
“The second half lacked physicality that we have previously shown throughout the tournament with our basic skill decisions deserting us today.”
“Argentina are a world class team who have maintained consistency throughout their matches at this tournament.”
48 days until the 2014 World Cup commences, the Hockeyroos now prepare to head over to The Hague to compete against their pool over the duration of two weeks, Commens added, “It’s not long now until we head into the World Cup. In three weeks’ time we will be playing a number of practices matches and a tournament in Germany in which we will iron out some of the discrepancies in our game.”
WAIS hockey athletes Ashleigh Nelson and Jayde Taylor represented Australia throughout the tournament.
Commens will select his World Cup squad at the end of April. The team will depart for its World Cup preparation in Europe in mid-May.
-HockeyAustralia
