Men's Hockey World Cup 2018: France stun Olympic champs Argentina to move to cross-over round

Men's Hockey World Cup 2018: Hugo Genestet, Victor Charlet, Aristide Coisne, Gasper Baumgarten and Francios Goyet were the goal scorers for France.

France staged a huge upset by toppling Olympic champions Argentina 5-3 to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth in the Hockey World Cup 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Thursday. The result meant Spain were knocked out of the world cup after finishing last in Pool A. Argentina, despite the loss secured direct qualification for the quarterfinals while France and New Zealand will take part in the cross-fire. Coming back to the match, France – the lowest ranked team in the competition – stunned World No. 2 Argentina in the second match of the evening, that changed the entire dynamics of Pool A France scored four field goals through Hugo Genestet (18th minute), Aristide Coisne (26th), Gaspard Baumgarten (30th) and Francois Goyet (54th), while the other goal came from a penalty corner conversion by skipper Victor Charlet (23rd). World no. 2 Argentina's goals came from the sticks of Lucas Martinez (28th) and two penalty corner strikes from Gonzalo Peillat (44th, 48th). Earlier, New Zealand fought back two goals down to hold Spain to a 2-2 draw in their penultimate Pool A match and qualify for the knock-out stages of the World Cup here. World no. 8 Spain scored two field goals in the opening two quarters through Albert Beltran (9th minute) and Alvaro Iglesias (27th) to go into the halfway break with a comfortable 2-0 lead. But the Black Sticks made a stupendous comeback in the final 10 minutes of the game and scored through Hayden Phillips (50th) and Kane Russell (56th) to share the spoils and secure their place in the cross-over round of the tournament. It was the Black Sticks who had the first shy at the goal in the sixth minute but Hugo Inglis strike from close range was saved by Spain captain and goalkeeper Quico Cortes. But it was Spain who struck first when Beltran scored from a through ball from Pau Quemada. Thereafter both the teams made a couple of good moves but they lacked the final touch inside the box. Spain earned their first penalty corner in the 25th minute but failed to utilise the opportunity. They extended their lead in the 27th minute when Iglesias scored from close range in the midst of a crowd of Black Sticks from a Ricardo Santana feed. After an uneventful third quarter, New Zealand pulled a goal back in the 50th minute through Phillips, who received a pass from Inglis on the left side and took his time to smash it into the roof of the net. Pumped up by the goal, New Zealand went all out in search of the equaliser and four minutes from the final hooter their efforts bore fruit when Russell found the back of the net from the Black Sticks only penalty corner of the match.