Olympics 2021: India vs Argentina men's hockey preview & prediction
The Indian men's hockey team will look to continue their winning ways when they take on Argentina in their fourth group match of the 2021 Olympics.
Graham Reid's boys edged out New Zealand 3-2 in their opener before suffering a shock 1-7 defeat to Australia. However, they later redeemed themselves with a fluent 3-0 win over Spain.
Group A is still wide open as only Australia have assured themselves of a place in the knock-outs while the Belgians are through to the quarterfinals from Group B.
The Indians are currently second in the points table with six points from three games while Argentina have four points from just as many matches.
The defending champions have a mixed record against the Men in Blue.
Penalty corner specialist Gonzalo Peillat scored the only goal for his side as the eventual gold medalists lost to India 1-2 back in Rio 2016.
Interestingly, Peillat has been on the score-sheet each time his team played the Indians in four consecutive outings since Rio.
The short corner wizard scored the lone goal as his team beat India in the semifinals of the Hockey World League Finals in 2017. He followed it up with a hat-trick when the South Americans got past a fledgeling Indian side 3-2 at the 2018 Azlan Shah Cup.
Check Out: Tokyo Olympics Hockey Schedule
Peillat scored in a losing cause when the Indians beat Argentina by a 2-1 margin in the 2018 Champions Trophy as well, but Manpreet and co can breathe easy as the 28-year-old defender has not been part of the current set-up since 2019 following differences with former coach German Orozco.
Carlos Retegui, who along with Peillat was the architect of the Rio gold, is guiding the Los Leones in Tokyo.
Thus far in Tokyo, Argentina and Spain played out an eventful draw in a Group A match where tempers flared before Retegui's team got the better of hosts Japan by a 2-1 margin.
After a resounding win against Argentina in the second leg of the Hockey Pro League earlier this year, the Indians will start favorites when the teams take the field on Thursday morning.
The Medal Tally for Tokyo 2020 is out now. Check out The Tokyo Olympics Medal Tally
Pedro Ibarra leads the side at the 2021 Olympics and is part of a vastly experienced defensive unit that includes Lucas Rossi and veteran goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi.
Lucas Vila will be one of the men to watch out for as the Indians attempt to win with a clean sheet to finish as high up in the placings as they possibly can.
The action begins at 0600 IST on Thursday, July 29th
FIH Rankings:
India - 4
Argentina - 7
Prediction:
The Indians will look to assert themselves early to snuff the resistance out of Argentina who rely on the waiting game and prefer patient build-ups.
Score Prediction:
India 4 - Argentina 1