In the other Pool B match on Day 2 of the Men’s Competition of the Pan American Games, USA and Argentina played. Both teams fought for possession throughout the first half. And play was mostly in the midfield. Argentina had a few shots, but could not convert. Around the 22^nd minute, the USA earned the first penalty corner of the match, but could not get a shot off. In the 33^rd minute, Argentina earned their first penalty corner of the match and Ignacio Ricardo BERGNER scored; that gave Argentina a 1-0 lead over the USA at halftime.

The United States earned a couple of penalty corners early in the second half, but Argentina’s defense held off a USA score. Similarly, Argentina earned some early penalty corners, but could not convert. After persistent attacking pressure from Argentina, Juan Martin LOPEZ’s field goal put Argentina ahead by two goals in the 52^nd minute. Argentina continued to apply offensive pressure in the later part of the second half. Behind the strong play of USA keeper Tom SHERIDAN, Argentina was not able to score further, especially off a number of penalty corners late in the half. Thus, the final score remained USA nill, Argentina 2.

Match Quotes

Argentina’s Coach Pablo LOMBI

On the match…

I thought the match was driven by two points—a strength and a weakness. First, our strength was that we defended well and did not allow a goal. The weakness was that we were not as effective as we should have been on attack, especially to have eight corners and only convert one. I thought the United States’ Keeper and their defense defended well.

Argentina’s Ignacio Ricardo BERGNER

On scoring the first goal of the match…

It is always nice to score goals. I am content. I thought it started with our defense and it paid off. We needed to be more effective on our [attacking] penalty corners, but it is okay [we won the game].

The United States’ Coach Nick CONWAY

On the match..

It was a pretty good effort. We knew we had to win, but we have to respect our opponent. We knew we had to defend well. But with the persistence and skill of Argentina it wore us down over time and we were not able to take chances.

On the rest of the tournament…

We wanted to place in the top three, but now we are aiming to come in 5^th place. Fifth place is important and it is our clear objective so that we can qualify to an Olympic Qualifier.