Leonas and Leones, Argentina's hockey teams, in good form at Olympics

Performing their role as one of the favourite teams to fight for a medal perfectly, the Leonas scored their second consecutive triumph at the Paris 2024 Olympics after beating South Africa 4-2 to thus be the undisputed leaders of Group B.

Their triumph of those captained by Rocío Sánchez Moccia was tougher than expected. In the first quarter, their dominion was absolute, but despite that the South Africans scored first through a penalty corner, while a goal scored by Julieta Jankunas had been overruled due to a previous infraction.

In the second quarter, in the tune with the beginning of the match, the Argentines tilted the pitch towards them until they drew the same way as their opponents with a great goal by Agustina Gorzelany, one of the team’s top scorers.

However, while Argentina was ever closer to the second goal, Valentina Raposo’s shot was disallowed, and once again through a short corner the South African team scored the first goal to achieve a preliminary victory.

The third quarter was an uphill battle for the Leonas and the score remained the same due to their rival’s defence, but also because there were two green cards which left them with two players less temporarily.

Suffering more than they should, the tying goal came in the last quarter the same way and with the same combination as the first goal, Gorzelany in a penalty corner, to keep the Argentines in the match again with ten minutes left.

After getting two victories running, the Argentine team are climbing to the top of Group B with six points, followed by Spain with four points and Australia with three. As for the Leonas’ upcoming commitments, they are as follows:

Wednesday July 31: Argentina - Spain / 5:00 am, Argentina time
Thursday August 1: Argentina - Australia / 3:15 pm, Argentina time
Saturday August 3: Argentine - Great Britain / 5:00 am, Argentina time

The Leones, who made gold in Rio 2016, is one of the teams with the highest hopes of a medal in this edition.

In their first match of Group B, the Argentine team had a bitter debut after losing 1-0 to Australia.

This match had an even beginning, but the Indian team gave signs of being a bit better, which made Argentine goalie Tomás Santiago a star, with two outstanding interventions.

The second quarter was similar, but Argentina surprised by getting ahead through Lucas Martínez’s goal, who made use of Bautista Capurro’s assistance after a good manoeuvre on the right.

In the third quarter, the Leones had an unparalleled chance to get further ahead with a penalty due to a hand ratified by the VAR, but Maico Casella’s shot was wide and they could not seal the victory.

This ended up being regretted by Argentina, since with only two minutes left, Harmanpreet Singh fired a powerful shot and tied for India.

The team coached Mariano Ronconi claimed to the Var that the ball had left the semicircle, but the technology showed that there was no clear reason to change the judge’s decision and the duel ended up in a draw.

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