Reuters
Rio de Janeiro, August 17: A hat-trick from Gonzalo Peillat powered Argentina into the men’s Olympic hockey final with a stunning 5-2 upset against defending champions Germany here Tuesday. They will be playing against Belgium who also created an upset of sorts by beating the fancied Oranjes (the Netherlands) 3-1 in the other semifinal.
Peillat, who opened the scoring with a drag-flick from a penalty corner midway through the first quarter, grabbed a second before the quarter ended and completed his hat-trick before half time to open up a 3-0 lead over the Germans.
All three of Peillat’s goals came from penalty corners, and the 24-year-old praised his side’s tactics and preparation before the game.
“We watched a lot of videos (of the Germans) before this game. We had three corners in the first part of the game and then we scored three from three so it was good,” he said.
Joaquin Menini and Lucas Vila added a goal each for Argentina in the third and fourth quarters before Germany’s captain Moritz Furste pulled a goal back for his team 10 minutes from the end. The Germans stepped up their intensity and added another in the 58th when Christopher Ruhr beat Argentina’s goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi to cut the deficit to three goals.
Furste said Germany had only themselves to blame for losing control so early in the match “We didn’t play our best hockey today (Tuesday), that’s for sure. They defended well, they scored from three corners, that just can’t happen. After that it was very difficult for us to come back into the game,” Furste pointed out.
Meanwhile the Red Lions made it to the summit clash for the first time since 1920. Goals from Jerome Truyens, Florent van Aubel and John-John Dohmen guaranteed them a silver medal at least.
“It’s an historical night. It was a great game, amazing against Holland. I think we’ve never beaten them in an official tournament,” Dohmen told reporters.
Following a dull first quarter, Truyens opened the scoring from a penalty corner attempt and Dohmen doubled the advantage three minutes later after getting into the circle and knocking in a pass.
Just 23 seconds after Dohmen scored, however, the Netherlands cut the lead as talisman Mink van der Weerden scored his ninth penalty corner goal of the Olympics to keep his side in the game heading into halftime. “They played well and I think we just sort of gave it away in the first half,” Van der Weerden said.
After a goalless third quarter which the Dutch dominated, the Red Lions regained their two-goal advantage courtesy of a brilliant counter-attack, which ended up with Van Aubel scoring.