Argentina deservedly finished fifth in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament when they beat Germany 2-1 in the playoff at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, on Sunday.
All three goals in the game came in the second half.
The South Americans should have won the match handsomely. They held more of the possession and called the shots right through, but tight defending by the Germans denied them space to manoeuvre inside the circle. Early in the match both teams preferred to make long clearances though the Argentinian forwards did some hard running off the ball.
The Pan American champions should have forged ahead in the 13th minute, but Carlos Retegui's goal was disallowed by the umpire as the ball hit a teammate's foot before entering the goal.
Having splintered through, the Argentines laid siege to the German goal and Jorge Lombi and Matias Paredes had a couple of chances to score, but goalkeeper Christian Schulte proved a hard nut to crack.
Schulte was eventually beaten six minutes into the second half as Mario Almada broke away down the left, following a cross from the right, entered the circle, and scored from the top with a rasping reverse shot.
Argentina continued to attack, but found the disciplined German defence giving little away. But they tasted success again from their fourth penalty corner, which came a minute after their third in the 60th minute. With Lombi off the field, Matias Vila took the drill and did well to flick low past Schulte.
The Germans then launched an offensive and, four minutes later, managed to force a penalty corner from which Sebastian Draguhn found the target, the ball being deflected in off an Argentinian defender's stick even as Benjamin Kopp prowled near the goalline.
But that was the best they could do as Argentina held possession and made the odd long clearance to play out the remaining time.
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