Argentina hold fancied Spain to 1-1 draw

Monchengladbach, Sep 9 (UNI) Displaying great grit and determination Argentina frustrated highly fancied Spain as they held the European Champions to a 1-1 draw to throw the Group 'A' wide open in the hockey World Cup here.

Spain, who had beaten Olympic champion Australia in the opener, survived several anxious moments last night before managing to finish the day with a point.

The Pan-American champions who had lost 0-3 to New Zealand in their first match were expected to be easy opponents for the European powerhouse but all the calculation went haywire as Spain just could not get more than a goal which their rivals managed to equalize.

The two goals in the match came in the second half of the game. Spain took the lead in the 40th minute through Eduard Tubau who captalised on a defensive lapse to send the ball home but the Latin Americans fought back and drew parity in the 49th minute through Matias Cammareri, who latched on to a pass from Matias Vila to send the ball in the cave (1-1), leaving the Spaniards bemused and surprised.

Though Spain dominated the proceedings and forced as many as five penalty corners but they could not convert any of them. The Euorpean champions also missed some good chances.

However, they were also lucky as Argentina could not captalise on the chances that came their way.

Argentina played a robust game and matched Spain in every department of the game. In fact, the Latin Americans had couple of good chances in both sessions of the game but they missed them either hitting wide or failing to deflect home.

Spain, on the other hand, did every thing but could not prevent their rivals from snatching points from them.

Spain now have four points from two outings while Argentina have one from two ties.

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