Tokyo Olympics: Hockey Day 6— India vs Argentina — Preview, schedule, Live Streaming, when and where to watch

A preview of the Field Hockey Group A match between India and Argentina to be played on Thursday

Update: 2021-07-28 13:37 GMT

Rupinder and Harmanpreet will be looking to fire for India (Source: Hockey India )

Hockey aficionados are in for a treat when eight-time Olympic gold medallists India take on defending champions Argentina at the Oi Hockey Stadium on Thursday morning.

Much to the amazement of the hockey world, the South Americans stood atop the podium in Rio in 2016 thanks to the exploits of PC expert Gonzalo Peillat and wily strategist Carlos Retegui who has now returned the fold after three years.

It will be interesting to see how Retegui attempts to replicate the Rio success without Peillat in the ranks and the 51-year-old coach has a tough task on his hands following a win against Japan, a loss against Australia, and a draw against Spain thus far in the tournament.

Contrasting styles of hockey will be on display when the two giants of the game take the pitch with the Indians relying on fast counterattacks and linear sprints, as opposed to the South Americans, who prefer creating space by using a string of vertical passes to draw the midfield forward and then probe the defence with long goal-bound crosses with a poacher lying in wait to direct a deflection in.

Of late, the Indians have picked up a fair bit of the long ball technique and used it to good effect against the Spanish as Simranjeet did scoring off a long sideline ball that was powered in from the right.



The Indian strikers will need to get into the groove and manufacture a few good moves ahead of the knock-out stage while Harmanpreet would like nothing better than to convert a few PCs to relieve Rupinder for a bit.

WIth captain Pedro Ibarra and Lucas Rossi adding invaluable experience in defence, the Los Leones can afford to be adventurous up front thanks to an enviable midfield consisting of Agustin Mazzilli, Matias Rey, Juan Martin Lopez, and Ignacio Ortiz.

Seasoned gold-medal-winning custodian Juan Manuel Vivaldi will be a tough nut to crack in front of goal and the Indians can be certain that Carlos Retegui has a definite plan in place to counter the Men in Blue.

The Indians beat Argentina comprehensively by a 3-0 margin in the second leg of their 2020 Hockey Pro League encounter earlier this year after stuttering to a 2-2 draw courtesy of a late inspirational goal manufactured by Manpreet and executed off a PC by Harmanpreet Singh.

On current form, the Indians will be expected to pull this one off, but count on the Argentinians to spring a surprise or two to make life difficult for Graham Reid's team.

There is no way you should miss the action that begins at 0600 IST on Thursday, July 29th.

Where to watch?

You can catch all the action LIVE in Sony Sports Network channels in India. Here are the details of broadcasters in some more countries:

Japan: The Japan Consortium

USA: NBC Universal

UK: BBC, Eurosport

China: CCTV

Australia: Seven Network

Germany: ARD-ZDF

Brazil: Grupo Globo, Bandsports

Spain: RTVE

Italy: RAI

France: Eurosport

South Africa: SABC

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