It was a successful day nine for the Argentine Olympic team in Paris 2024. Emi “Dibu” Martínez might not be protecting the Albiceleste’s posts, but the men’s and women’s hockey goalkeepers were the undisputed stars of the day, with key saves in hard-fought games.
Early on, the men’s hockey team secured a hard-earned qualification to the quarterfinals, beating Ireland 2-1. It was once again an uphill battle for the Leones, who had to fight to get the lead.
After an unexciting first quarter, Argentina’s first goal came almost a minute into the second quarter. After an uneventful first quarter, Tomás Domene made it 1-0 from a penalty corner in the 17th minute.
Ireland tied it in the 27th minute, but Maico Casella scored from another penalty corner just one minute later for the 2-1.
However, the undisputed hero of the match was goalkeeper Tomás Santiago, who saved a penalty with just 14 seconds left of the third quarter, then saved Ireland’s equalizer from the ensuing penalty corner.
“It was a very tough match. Ireland is a very tough team,” Argentina coach Mariano Ronconi told sports outlet TyC. “We knew that a lot of things were at stake, so it was a hard match for us at times.”
The win proved enough to see the Leones to the quarterfinals, sitting fourth with seven points. They will face group leaders Belgium on Friday at 12:30 p.m. to try to improve their standing.
Las Leonas miss out on the last play
The Leonas had less on the table after securing a quarterfinals spot in their last game. Nonetheless, they had a tough game against Australia, another of the favorites.
Argentina took a solid lead in the first quarter. Just nine minutes in, María José Granatto dribbled past the Australian defense and put in a cross for Lara Casas to make it 1-0. The next minute, the Leonas’s leading goalscorer Agustina Gorzelany made it 2-0 from a penalty corner.
It wasn’t until the third quarter that the Hockeyroos started their comeback.
In the eighth minute, Cristina Cosentino saved a penalty shot, but was unable to keep the ball out as the Australians scored from the ensuing penalty corner. Just two minutes later, the goalie became the player of the match as she foiled another penalty shot for Australia.
However, the Hockeyroos kept pushing and managed to draw even in the last minute of the third quarter from another penalty corner.
Argentina reclaimed the lead in the fifth minute of the last quarter, as Granatto scored from a penalty corner, but Leonas missed a couple of chances to extend the lead and paid the price once again in the last minute of the quarter, as Mariah Williams scored the final 3-3 for the Australians, in a third straight penalty corner.
“We’re very angry, because we did a lot of things right,” Granatto told TyC after the game. “We knew Australia was a tough rival, but we played at a high level and that was our goal.” The team wasn’t happy with the refereeing, she added, claiming there were “several odd calls” that put them in a difficult position — but she refused to blame the officiating for the result.
“The tie is fair, because they had a lot of big chances, we have to fine-tune our game, because we didn’t play well in the most important minutes.”
The Leonas will wrap up their group stage games when they face Great Britain on Saturday at 5 a.m.
Solid start for golf, tough elimination for BMX
Chaco native Emiliano Grillo shined in the first round of the golf tournament, finishing tied on the third spot, with five shots below par, and just three from Japanese leader Hideki Matsuyama. The other Argentine competing, Alejandro Tosti, finished tied on 14th, with three below par. The second round is scheduled to start on Friday at 4 a.m.
In windsurfing, Chiara Ferretti finished 24th in the women’s, while Francisco Saudibet wrapped up the 21st place in the men’s.
Dinghy sailor Francisco Guaragna finished 26th after two races, while Lucía Falasca ended 35th in the first race. The second had to be postponed.
Gonzalo Molina, who was making an Olympics return in BMX racing after missing out on Tokyo 2020, was unable to qualify for the finals run, finishing sixth in the Last Chance Race.All times shown are for Argentina local time (GMT-3). For local times, check the Paris 2024 Olympics site.