How Argentina won the title at the 2015 World Championships of Rink Hockey

Qualification round

For the record, those worlds took place in a wonderful Vendéspace with 3700 seats, and several nights were sold out. According to specialists who went to other Worlds too, it was the first time there were that many spectators during a qualification round.

Argentina was the leader of Group B, with Mozambique, Switzerland and England.

Saturday, June 20th, 2:30pm: Argentina 7-1 Switzerland

Referees: Mr. Esoli and Mr. Bleuzen

It was the opening game of the 2015 Worlds, a few hours before the opening ceremony.
Of course, Argentina, still developing their game against Switzerland, the perfect opponent to warm-up, didn’t have much trouble imposing themselves, with Matias Platero opening the score for Argentina 4 minutes after the kick-off. They were leading 3-0 at the break, and the game finished with a score of 7-1. The Argentinians were 5 players to score, especially José Garcia who did a hat-trick in the last two minutes, including a direct foul shot after a blue card for Switzerland.

Sunday, June 21st, 1:30pm: Argentina 8-1 England

Referees: Mr. Costa and M. Jacquart

Argentina’s start was harder than against Switzerland: they got a blue card, missed a direct foul shot and a penalty shot, before finally scoring their first goal at 10′ (Carlos Nicolia, 1-0). The second part of the first period was painful for England, with a score of 6-1 at the break. Only two more goals would be scored in the second period. Lucas Ordoñez scored 3, 39-years-old David Perez started to impose himself on the scorers’ board with 2, just like Carlos Nicolia who had already scored 1 point on the last game.

Tuesday, June 23rd, 1:30pm: Argentina 5-4 Mozambique

Referees: Mr. Sanz and Mr. Cardona

With hindsight, Mozambique can be proud of having been the nation who best resisted to the soon-to-be world champions. They even opened the score of the game with 2 goals, one by Bruno Pinto and one by ‘Marinho’ Rodrigues at 3′ and 4′. Carlos Nicolia counter-attacked and rectified the situation in two minutes with a hat-trick (between 7′ and 9′): 3-2. Lucas Ordoñez widened the gap soon after to show Mozambique that they had had was enough (4-2), which the latter refused to acknowledge: ‘Fred’ Sareiva almost caught up on the score, 4-3, just before the break.
At the start of the second period, Nuno Araújo, again, managed to equalize at 24′, but Ordõnez finally gave the victory and the first place of the group to his team just before the final whistle blow: 5-4, avoiding the extra time by a whisker.

Final phases

Thursday, June 25th, 9:15pm: Quarter-Final Argentina 5-0 France

Referees: Mr. Sandoval and Mr. Da Prato

Argentina, being the opponent of the organizing nation, had the honor of playing sold-out in prime time.
The South Americans didn’t leave much time to France and the French supporters to believe in a potential victory: after 5 minutes of quite a balanced game, they scored 3 goals in 7 minutes (between 5′ and 12′) – one by Matias Platero and two by Carlos Nicolia.
At the second period, Lucas Ordoñez did the same double as Nicolia in the first period, in only 3 minutes (between 24′ and 27′): 5-0. Disillusionment could be read on the faces of the French supporters who had started to think France could make it after having beaten Angola, but nobody yet knew that Argentina was going to win the Worlds, which puts this defeat into perspective.

Friday, June 26th, 7:30pm: Semi-Final Argentina 5-2 Portugal

Referees: Mr. Da Prato and Mr. Esoli

According to figures, Portugal was, after Mozambique, the team that best resisted Argentina with a gap of 3 points.
Only 1 goal was scored (Reinaldo Garcia, 10′) in the first period and the door was still wide open for the Portuguese at the break.
Hélder Nunes even gave the most thrilling hope to his supporters in scoring a double in less than 2 min, between 25′ and 26′: 1-2. He was the only player to score 2 goals against Argentina (and in 2 minutes only). Carlos Nicolia stroke back at 28′, equalizing 2-2, before the turning point of the game, the 10th penalty of Argentina, failed to be taken advantage of, contrary to the blue card of Diego Rafael which Nicolia hastened to convert at 34′, giving back the advantage to Argentina. He did it again for the 15th penalty of Portugal, 20 sec before the end of the game, after Reinaldo Garcia’s 4-2 a little sooner. The final score of 5-2 enabled Argentina to play Spain in their 4th final in a row, after Vigo in 2009, San Juan 2011, Luanda 2012, and Namibia 2013.

Saturday, June 27th, 9:00pm: Final Argentina 6-1 Spain

Referees: Mr. Pinto and Mr. Da Prato

Logically, Jordi Bargalló opened the score for Spain (1-0) after 5 min, as established by the standard of the last years. Lucas Ordoñez shook things up a bit a while after, equalizing at 9′, but it’s veteran David Paez, selected as the substitute of Matías Pascual who injured himself just before flying there, who showed he hadn’t come to sit on the bench, even during the final, scoring an incredible double against Aitor Egurrola, between 12′ and 15′. It’s quite a surprising, even worrying situation for the Spanish team and for a good part of the public, but not yet for the 5-time world champion.
The beginning of the second period was just as surprising, the Spanish not managing to recover, and worse, not even taking advantage at 28′ of the 10th Argentinian penalty, which could still have change the turn of the game. One minute later, Ordoñez converted a direct free shot for the 10th Spanish penalty: 4-1, putting Spain in the impossible situation of having to score 3 goals in 10 minutes, only to have the opportunity of reaching extra time. But the opposite happened and Carlos Nicolia beat Egurrola at 16′ (5-1), and Ordo?ez rubbed it in as a conclusion with an incredible 6-1, hardly 1 min later.

Incredible Argentina burst out of joy! And it’s easily understandable: World champion, 16 years after their last title, against Spain, putting an end to their 71-win streak. What a grand finale!

Roster of Team Argentina

Valentin Grimalt (Liceo), Ariel Svriz, Federico Sánchez – José Garcia, Reinaldo Garcia, David Paez, Matias Platero (Reus), Lucas Ordónez (Valdagno last season, Barcelona this season), Gonçalo Romero, Carlos Lopez (Benfica), Carlos Nicolia (Benfica).

Coach: Dario Giuliani

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Photos : Thomas Gilbert