Argentina beat Pakistan in Johar Bahru

KARACHI: Pakistan lost to Argentina 3-1 in their match of Sultan Johor Junior hockey tournament in Johor Bahru in Malaysia on Thursday — their third defeat in four matches.
After showing some potential in the match against England, which ended in a goalless draw, the Green-shirts once again failed to show much promise.
Sources in the team said that the match was played during rain and the team was not used to playing in such conditions.
They came under pressure in the first half when Argentina scored two goals.
The juniors tried hard and managed a goal when forward Mahmood Qasim netted the ball after dodging the defenders.
But later Argentina scored their third goal, virtually sealing the game.
Pakistan’s pace in the match remained slow due to the rain, the sources said.
Chief coach Tahir Zaman told ‘The News’ that the tournament was very tough as every team was taking the event as its final preparation for the Junior World Cup 2016, and doing various experiments.
Argentina is a strong side and had defeated Australia in the same event, he said.
Tahir observed that all the rival teams had been preparing for last one and a half years. “We came here with a preparation of 12 days only. There is no doubt we are the weakest team here as all teams have many experienced players, but the plus point is that our players are playing very tough and high standard hockey against strong rivals and they are learning. There is no alternative of experience of international matches against tough rivals such as Australia, England, India and Malaysia,” said Tahir.
He said that rain affected the pace of Pakistani players during the match as they did not have experience of playing in such conditions.
The chief coach said that the performance against England had showed that the Green-shirts were learning through this tournament. The weaknesses and loopholes identified during this event would be removed before the Asia Cup. “Our entire focus after this tournament will be on rectifying these shortcomings so as to better prepare for the Asia Cup,” Tahir said. He further said the match against Malaysia on Saturday (tomorrow) would be a difficult one, as they had defeated Australia 3-2.