MADRID, 14 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men's field hockey team tied this Sunday with South Korea (2-2) on the second day of the Pre-Olympic, which is held in Valencia and in which three places for the Paris 2024 Games are distributed, in a match in which Max Caldas' men wasted a two-goal lead in the first quarter and which will force them to play for qualification on Wednesday against Egypt.
With only three and a half minutes consumed, Álvaro Portugal gained the baseline and served to Mar Reyné who, with his back to the goal, controlled the ball and scored on the first offensive play. In the second dangerous arrival, Rafa Villalonga assisted Chefo Basterra so that the 'RedSticks' scored the second.
Before the end of the first quarter, Korea had the opportunity to close the gap with a penalty corner that Luis Calzado saved, but it was just at the beginning of the second when they achieved it in another CP resolved by Jungiun Lee. The goal spurred Seok Kyo Shin's team, who still had a triple scoring chance with four minutes left before the break.
At the restart, Chefo Basterra and Marc Miralles were close to expanding the Spanish lead. However, South Korea managed to equalize the contest on their fourth penalty corner, on a direct kick from Jonghyun Jang. In this way, Spain, which beat Austria (4-1) in its debut, will seek to qualify for the semifinals on the third day of the group on Wednesday against Egypt (12:00 p.m.).
“We are happy on the one hand, but disappointed on the other,” explained Marc Miralles. “It is very difficult to play against a team that plays defense throughout the game. Even so, we started winning 2-0, we had many chances and we gave them few chances. On the other hand, we are left with the feeling that we let things slip away. something that we already had, we leave with strange feelings. I think we have to remain confident in our game and we can beat Egypt,” he indicated.