India run into familiar foes Argentina

Argentina might not have achieved great things on the world stage but they can trouble any team on their day, even though they are on the rebuilding phase here after the exit of stars like Jorge Lombi and Pablo Moreira.

And for India, they have spelt trouble time and again.

In seven World Cup meetings, they have won on four occasions and India two, with one match being drawn. India’s last World Cup win over the Argentines came in 1978 at Buenos Aires while in 2006, they were beaten by the South Americans in the 9-12 placings match. Their last match, however, went in India’s favour, with the team coming back to force a 3-2 verdict at the Champions Challenge in Salta last December.

Needless to say, India won’t have it easy against a team that can attack with style and is quick to exploit weaknesses in the rival defence. In the league, they stretched teams like South Korea and Germany, showing they will be no pushovers. Only the element of luck prevented them from achieving better results in these matches.

Sixth at the 2002 World Cup, the Argentines will be eyeing their best finish since then while India’s motivation will be their chance to notch their top result since 1994, when they were fifth. A bruising encounter, as such, is on the cards at the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium.

India’s attacks have flowed nicely in the last few matches, despite Prabhjot Singh’s lacklustre play. The return of Shivender Singh has added sharpness to it but their conversion rate needs to improve.

The Indian defence, on the other hand, will have to be wary of the aggressive ways of Facundo Callioni, Tomas Argento and Enrique Paredes. Sandeep Singh, unimpressive at the back, will need to be alert to keep the speedy Argentines at bay. Argentina’s worry too is in the defence. In this tournament, they have shown a tendency to concede quick goals after taking handy leads. In fact, even at Salta, India had trailed 0-2 before fighting back to strike three goals, claiming the third place in the Champions Challenge.

“Our defenders tend to lose focus at times. We have to watch out for that,” said coach Pablo Lombi, former Argentine international and brother of Jorge. “It happened in Salta as well. Hopefully, it won’t happen in the India game.”