Argentina had a great Champions Trophy season in 2008. The women led by Luciana Aymar’s brilliant play won their second Champions Trophy in Monchengladbach and the men finished an impressive third in Rotterdam.

Las Leonas, as the women are affectionately known, played a solid tournament doing what was necessary to get to the final. Their only loss in the tournament was against the Olympic hosts, China. In the final against Germany the ladies turned it on and easily defeated the Olympic Champions to get to the top of the podium. Luciana Aymar was named the Player of the Tournament but it was a team effort in the final that allowed the Argentine ladies to dominate most of the game. The defense led by Magdalena Aicega made very few mistakes and never let the German forwards and midfielders get into their rhythm.

Going into the Olympics, the Argentine women will have a boost of confidence from the Champions Trophy. They have several senior players who have Olympic experience and they must be considered legitimate contenders for the gold medal in Beijing.

The Argentinean men’s team must be the unlucky team of the year. They will not be in Beijing losing by the narrowest of margins in the qualification tournaments. Canada beat them in the Pan American games in penalty stroke competition and they then lost to New Zealand in overtime at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Rebounding well, the men showed that they are world class at the Champions Trophy in Rotterdam. Beating the hosts Netherlands twice on their home turf is a magnificent achievement. Juan Manuel VIVALDI was named the Goalkeeper of the tournament and was a leader of the defense. Matias Enrique PAREDES and Rodrigo Nicolas VILA were the leading goal scorers for a team that has to extremely pleased with its performance. They are a team ranked in the top 10 of the FIH rankings that will be missed in Beijing.

After the Olympics, the Argentine men will compete in the Pan American Cup in Chile in March 2009 and the women will play in Bermuda in February 2009. The Pan American Cups will be one of the qualifying tournaments for the FIH World Cup in 2010.

- Aaron Sher -