Holland thrash Argentina, keep semi-final hopes alive

Kuala Lumpur, June 20 (UNI) Teun de Nooijer struck twice in two minutes to wrest the initiative from Argentina propelling Holland to a 4-1 victory, keeping their hopes alive for a semi-final berth from Pool A in the Azlan Shah Hockey tournament here today.

Holland had lost their opening match to Pakistan 2-3.

Argentina took the lead in the ninth minute through a Matias Damian Vila strike and kept it for the duration of the first half.

Even in the second half Argentina dominated initially till Holland equalised in the 53rd minute through Rob Reckers. The equaliser came like a shot in the arm for the Dutch as they went on the offensive.

In the 57th minute, Teun de Nooijer took a snap shot from inside the striking circle to give the lead to Holland and in the 59th minute, after a lovely move with Ronald Brouwer, tapped home again to increase the lead to 3-1.

Argentina, instead of throwing players into defence, attacked and would have got a couple of goals but for some misses after coming inside the Dutch striking circle.

With three minutes to go, Teun de Nooijer, Floris Evers and Rob Reckers moved in with just one Argentinian defender in their way.

But before Floris could take a shot, the Argentinian goalkeeper brought him down leading to a stroke.

However, Geert-Jan Derikx missed the stroke when Mariano Rodolfo read it correctly to take the flick onto his pads.

Holland got their fourth goal in the dying seconds. With 40 seconds to go, Rob Reckers and Ronald Brouwer moved in effortlessly with Ronald placing the shot past the Argentinian goalkeeper.

Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans, however, was not too pleased with the performance.

''I am not too happy as we are still some way off from achieving the level we want,'' said Oltmans.

''Against Pakistan when we lost, we couldn't convert but today we were converting. So in that manner, I am pleased with the team,'' he added.

Argentina coach Sergio, who is also trying to rebuild a new side with some of the 2005 Junior World Cup winners said that despite the heavy 4-1 defeat, he was happy that the team played good hockey for 50 minutes before the Dutch got the breaks.

''We are looking to the Champions Trophy and the World Cup and we hope that we would start playing well by then,'' he said.

Holland now meet New Zealand and a victory against the Kiwis will take them to the semi-finals. Argentina after two losses now meet Pakistan in their next match.

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