ROURKELA: Rio Olympic gold medallist Argentina came back from a goal deficit thrice to hold lower-rated France to a 5-5 in a highly-entertaining clash even as Australia thrashed South Africa 9-2 to finish on top in Pool A and clinched a direct berth into the quarterfinals at the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023, here on Friday.
Australia, who started the proceedings at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Friday as the World No. 1, rode on four goals, including a hat-trick, by seasoned Blake Govers to finish their league proceedings unbeaten with two wins and a draw.
With Australia enjoying a huge goal-difference advantage, Argentina needed to beat France by at least a 15-goal margin to overtake the Kookaburras, finish on top of the table and bag the quarterfinal berth.
Argentina started well by scoring in the 2nd minute but France came back strongly to not only level the scores in the 10th minute but after a goalless second quarter, took the lead thrice. Argentina, however, fought back every time and eventually levelled the scores 5-5 with just seconds remaining on the clock to salvage a draw.
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