FIH Junior World Cup: Argentina head coach fumes as contentious goal takes Spain into final
The 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist, now mentoring the junior squad, alleged that referees 'f****d' his team during the tournament with cards, and the winning goal was “clearly not a goal”.
The incidents Gilardi referred to were, objectively, quite contentious and his Spanish counterpart Oriol Torras would sympathise later. Spain's Bruno Avila won the ball in midfield. (Hockey India Photo) A tight semifinal between Spain and Argentina came down to a couple of controversial moments at the FIH Junior World Cup. A contentious Spanish goal in the 56th minute, eventually credited to Albert Serrahima, proved to be the difference as Argentina were beaten 1-2, leaving their head coach Juan Gilardi fuming.
The 2016 Rio Olympics gold medallist, now mentoring the junior squad, alleged that referees ‘f****d’ his team during the tournament with cards, and the winning goal was “clearly not a goal”.
“Right now, I have to say that the umpires, they f****d us the whole tournament with cards. They think that we are the only team that is playing aggressively and we get a card for everything,” Gilardi told reporters, emotions still raw. “That (winning) goal was clearly not a goal. And on the other side, they say that it was a danger for the attacking team (when a penalty corner was denied to Argentina with two seconds left). The whole tournament, umpiring is really bad against Argentina but we have to deal with that also and try to be focused for the next match to play for the medal.”
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