As the FIH Hockey Pro League makes a gradual return to action, albeit with several postponed matches creating some holes in the schedule, we take a look at how men’s and women’s team of Argentina and the USA women’s team are using the international competition to get their respective programs back on track.
For Argentina, the FIH Pro League provides the top competition needed for their Olympic preparations, while the USA are targeting the next Hockey World Cup.
The excitement ahead of Argentina’s FIH Pro League matches against Germany was palpable. It had been a year since either the men’s or women’s team had played an international competitive match and, with the re-scheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games looming on the horizon, both teams were anxious for a return to play.
Argentina men’s captain, Pedro Ibarra summed it up: “We are happy and excited that we are playing again. We stopped playing international hockey for 14 months, and that is a lot for an international player. So we have a lot of pent-up energy to play these two matches against Germany.”
However, he also recognized that Germany would possibly have the edge in the early stages of the first match because they had played the Netherlands in a high tempo encounter just two weeks previously.
“I think we will need some minutes to get up to speed and get used to international hockey,” said Ibarra, “But we can’t change that. It is what it is. But we will work hard to get into the right place, both for the Pro League and for our Tokyo preparations.”
Equally ready for the challenge was Victoria Sauze. The midfield player recognized Germany’s strengths as a tough team physically and mentally, but said that Las Leonas had enjoyed a very positive and meaningful test match series against India earlier in the month. This, she said, had been a good preparation for the return to action.
Unfortunately, for both the men’s and women’s teams, Germany proved a very strong opposition. Argentina’s women fared better. They drew their first match and then won the shoot-out 3-2. However, the second game saw Germany find another gear and the European team won by a convincing 3-1 scoreline.
In the men’s games, Germany won on both occasions. The first match was an absorbing 3-2 win to Germany, with Argentina unable to contain the goal-scoring brilliance of Constantin Staib in the final minutes of the game.
The next day, Los Leones lined up against a German team that was buzzing after the previous day’s triumph. Goals from Staib, Christopher Ruhr and Martin Wicker left Argentina reeling and with little in the way of answers. Coach Carlos Retegui was not trying to hide his emotions as he watched his players struggle to find any patterns of play in the face of Germany’s discipline. However, both sides saw cards in a match that veered from being intensely competitive towards downright angry. Six yellow cards were shown, with Argentina receiving four of them.
A visit from India was the chance that Argentina men needed in order to recover their equilibrium. Ahead of the matches assistant coach Mariano Ronconi spoke of his team’s need to “keep a clear head” and see the matches against Germany as a good learning opportunity.
“The results against Germany were not a big surprise. We found everything that we knew was going to happen: we lacked connections between players, we lacked playing as a team and it is normal because it’s been about 13 months that we haven’t played. There is no way to train for this, this is a reality. The only way to train is by playing so we will keep on playing as much as we can if the pandemic allows.”
For their opponents, the preceding months had not been easy. The Covid pandemic had struck down a number of players in the squad, including captain Manpreet Singh. Several coaching staff had left their posts and match opportunities, as with every nation, had been limited. However, India had benefited from a recent trip to Europe where they had played some invaluable matches against Great Britain and Germany.
The resilience of the India team showed in the opening match when India managed to carve out a 2-2 draw after Argentina had held a 2-1 lead for the majority of the match. The visiting side went on to win the shoot-out 3-2.
In a mirror of the preceding weekend’s results, Argentina seemed unable to bounce back from the result and India won by a 3-0 scoreline as their creative midfield and forward lines caused havoc among the Argentina defence.
For both the men’s and women’s teams, the next challenge will take place on European soil as the men and women of Argentina face the national teams of Belgium.
The other PAHF team that is currently preparing for FIH Pro League action is the USA women’s team. With a new coach in place in the form of Anthony Farry – formerly head coach to Japan women – the squad has been trying to find ways to stay focused and ready for action in the face of pandemic restrictions. The last time the USA played a Pro League match was in February 2020, when they lost to New Zealand. With fixtures in Europe against Belgium and Great Britain in May, the new look team with a new coach at the helm has been preparing for a return to international action.
Lauren Moyer, who is a mainstay of the USA midfield spoke of the positive attitude that Farry was engendering within the team, despite being stuck in his homeland of Australia for much of the past year. With only five Pro League matches played and all of them losses, the squad is in need of some Farry-positivity.
Moyer says the past few months of lockdown have offered a chance for some deep levels of reflection. A heart-breaking loss to India in the 2019 Olympic Qualifiers, when the team so nearly turned around a huge goal deficit only to see the Olympic spot slip from their grasp in the final minutes of the game was hard to bear. Moyer, who speaks candidly about the experience says: “The lows from 2019 lasted a long time and during lockdown we had a lot of time to think about things. Some people decided ‘you know what, I’ve reached my potential here’.
“Those of us who have stayed on want to explore where we can take this new team. We could dwell on what has happened but, no, we need to focus on now and the future.
“It is exciting to see new faces in the program, as hard as it was to see some people leave. But we are refreshed, we want to gain experience and there are a lot of learning opportunities, so we are on an exciting journey.
“Now, on the horizon we finally have a ‘match’. We are going to be in a very different position to many of the other teams who are prepping for the Olympics because we are building and growing for the World Cup. It is important to get these matches in and see where we are at. We will be trying new ideas and using the Pro League as a springboard.
And the new coach’s initial interactions have received a big ‘thumbs up’ from Moyer. “Anthony’s ability to bring things from other programs is huge. And I like his approach to coaching. He has a great rapport with Greg Drake [assistant coach] and they play off each other in a very unique way. Right now, it is all about building trust. And they are making that easy to do because they have outlined a plan and that sets really clear expectations of the group. It is a work in progress but it began on Day One. They set high standards and it is so refreshing to be back in an environment where the standards and high and the future is bright.”
