FIH Pro League: Gritty Belgium turns the tables on Argentina

Belgium rode on three strikes from Tom Boon and two penalty strokes to come back from a two-goal deficit and win 5-3 against Argentina in the opening game of the FIH Pro League here on Tuesday.

Argentina, which scored all three goals through penalty corners in the first half, pushed Belgium to the back foot. However, the Belgians regrouped, pushing ahead one short pass at a time.

Tomas Domene struck the first blow for Argentina in the second minute and Nicolas della Torre doubled the lead seven minutes later.

Veteran Boon, fresh from his HIL exploits, continued his momentum with a cheeky overhead shot into the net with four seconds to go for the first quarter to pull one back.

A penalty corner strike in the 24th minute made it 3-1 to Argentina, but Belgium came up with frequent attacks. The flanks opened up and the Belgians, playing with black armbands as a mark of respect for the death of Thibeau Stockbroekx’s father, were only denied by an acrobatic goalkeeper Tomas Santiago.

There was only so much he could do against a side that kept finding ways to breach the defence. Boon rounded off the scoring with a penalty stroke two minutes from time.

The result: Belgium 5 (Boon 15, 30 & 58-ps, Hellin 32, Hendrickx 53-ps) bt Argentina 3 (Domene 2-pc & 24-pc, Della Torre 9-pc).