New Zealand are currently world ranked seventh, below an ever improving, rebuilding Hockeyroos who had beaten the world number ones in the final of the Mendoza Four Nations earlier this year . In their last international clash at Nottingham during the World Champions Trophy 201, the Black Sticks were beaten 4-0. Prior to this series of friendlies the two teams had met on seven occasions with Argentina taking four wins, 2 losses and a draw.
The first game in the series of Oceania friendlies, had seen the Black Sticks hold Las Leonas to a credible 1-1 draw at the Rosvall ITM Stadium in Whangarei . Before this latest game coach Mark Hager presented Emily Naylor with a boquet to celebrate her 150th cap for the Black Sticks. After the first encounter and the draw, he had spoken prophetically “Argentina will come out firing in the next couple of games, so we need to be prepared to better handle the ball under pressure and make decisions quickly to ensure we keep possession,”
And indeed the world champions stepped up a gear ,showing their class with a much quicker game than they played in Whangarei last Saturday . The Argentineans successfully held possession , attacked with confidence and although there were opportunities for the Black Sticks to score, including four penalty corners just before the final whistle, the home team could not get the result they were after.
The Argentineans made it look easy in the second half with goals to captain Maria Barrionuevo and Daniela Sruoga. A yellow card to Barrionuevo in the 60th minute did little to halt the Argentineans momentum as Delfina Merino scored her second goal from a penalty corner one minute later. The Las Leonas squad included Rocío Sánchez Moccia, Marco Casale, Josefina Sruoga, Victoria Zuloaga, Julia and Sophia Simonassi Maccari following successful debuts during the two Four Nations tournaments in Argentina at Mendoza and Rosario earlier this year.
(*Time difference for New Zealand is GMT +12 hours )
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More Las Leonas Photographs, WCT 2010 Nottingham
ARGENTINA SQUAD
Noel Barrionuevo (c)
New Zealand Squad
1 Kayla Sharland2 Emily Naylor
4 Jan Burrows
5 Katie Glynn
6 Petrea Webster
8 Sally Rutherford GK
9 Alana Millington
12 Ella Gunson
14 Amanda Green
16 Clarissa Eshuis
20 Sam Harrison
21 Cathryn Finlayson
23 Anna Thorpe
24 Laura Douglas
27 Sophie Devine
28 Charlotte Harrison
30 Bianca Russell
31 Stacey Michelsen
