France hold Spain, Argentina thump NZ

BHUBANESWAR, India: Led by their captain Quico Cortes, Spain were able to hold on to a 1-1 draw with France after the Spaniards were nearly defeated by an impressive French side in their second Pool A match at the ongoing men’s hockey World Cup here on Monday.

The Frenchmen gave their opponents a run for their money, despite the fact that Spain is ranked number 8 in the world while France sits at number 20.France’s Timothee Clement stunned the Spaniards in the sixth minute when he brilliantly scored a field goal to put France ahead of the three-time gold medalists.

Spain’s Alvaro Iglesias scored the equalizer in the 48th minute of the game, after the sides had changed. However, things were still going France’s way as the Frenchmen were able to win a penalty stroke in the last 10 minutes of the game when a Spain defender obstructed an attack.

It looked like the French had caused the first big upset of the tournament but Hugo Genestet’s strike was deflected by Spanish goalkeeper Cortes successfully.

Earlier, Spain won seven penalty corners but all attempts to score were rendered useless by French goalkeeper Arthur Thieffry.Both Spain and France lost their opening matches to Argentina and New Zealand, respectively.

The draw kept both the teams in the hunt for the knock-out round with one point apiece from two games. France will next play Argentina on December 6 while Spain will take on New Zealand in the next pool matches.

Meanwhile, Argentina thumped New Zealand 3-0 in their encounter, moving one step closer to qualifying for the quarter-finals.Agustin Mazzilli (23rd), Lucas Villa (41st) and Lucas Martinez (55th) scored for Argentina, enabling the Olympic champions to move to the top of Pool A with six points. Despite the loss, New Zealand are at second place in the table ahead of Spain and France, who each have one point from their two games.