On the final day of men’s pool play, under bright sunny skies, the first match was between Argentina and Cuba. From the opening whistle, Argentina controlled the possession and went fast on attack. Argentina missed a penalty corner shot in the third minute. Cuba’s Alexander Abreu, Minel Prado and Yasmanny Gutierrez played incredibly strong defense to prevent Argentina from scoring in the first quarter of the match; including great recovery by Gutierrez to avoid an Argentina shot in the 15^th minute.

After a scoreless first quarter, Argentina continued to pressure on attack. In the 18^th minute, Cuba’s Marcos Martinez was sent off with a green card. Argentina immediately capitalized as Lucas Vila flicked in a shot making the score Argentina 1, Cuba 0. Cuba then countered on attack and earned their first penalty corner of the match in the 21^st minute. Yoandy Blanco’s drag flick tied the match 1-1. Both teams continued to battle for possession. Ten minutes later Argentina again took advantage of a green card this time to Cuba’s Adrian Molina. As a result Argentina earned a penalty corner and Peillat sent in his drag flick to give his team back the lead in the 28^th minute. A minute later, Argentina’s Joaquin Menini’s shot made the score Argentina 3, Cuba 1 that remained at the halftime break.

At the beginning of the third quarter it was Cuba starting fired up on the attack. Cuba earned a penalty corner in the first minute of the third quarter, but Argentina’s keeper Juan Vivaldi blocked Blanco’s flick. For the next five minutes, Argentina pressured on attack and in the 37^th minute Peillat converted the second of two penalty corners to increase his team’s lead by three goals. Cuba’s strong defense held off Argentina’s attack to keep the score Argentina 4, Cuba 1 at the end of the third quarter.

Argentina quickly earned penalty corners to start the fourth quarter. But immediately after Argentina failed to capitalize off their penalty corner Cuba was fast with the counter attack. Cuba’s Yoel Veitia ran fast on attack and his shot in the 47^th minute cut into Argentina’s lead to make the score Argentina 4, Cuba 2. Both teams continued to battle for possession, but Cuba kept up their attacking intensity. Cuba’s Roger Aguilera made the score Argentina 4, Cuba 3 in the 52^nd minute. Argentina came back fighting even more on attack and Peillat scored his third penalty corner of the match in the 55^th minute. In an exciting quarter, Veitia scored again two minutes later to make the score Argentina 5, Cuba 4. Vetia had another good shot in the 59^th, but it went high. Thus, the final result was Argentina 5, Cuba 4.