FIH Hockey Pro League: Netherlands defeat Argentina 5-2 in the first leg

Within the regulation time, Van Der Horst Jair in the 2nd minute, Janssen Jip in the 12th, Van Battum Bram in the 18th minute, Bijen Koen in the 32nd minute and Hoedemakers Tjep in the 33rd minute were the goal scorers for the Netherlands. In contrast, Della Torre Nicolas in the 39th minute and Ferreiro Martin in the 41st minute scored for Argentina.

The Netherlands played their first FIH Hockey Pro League match in four months. They started the game ferociously. After receiving a well-placed pass, Van Der Horst Jair scored on his debut with a one-touch shot. Janssen Jip further widened the lead for the Netherlands with a shot from a penalty corner that went into the goal through the legs of Argentine goalkeeper Tomas Santiago. Van Battum Bram also marked his debut with another goal for the Netherlands in the 18th minute. The first half ended with a 3-0 lead for the Dutch side.

The Dutch side started the second half with the same energy as the first one. Bijen Koen and Hoedemakers Tjep scored two goals within two minutes to give the Netherlands a wide lead. However, Argentina tried to pull a reversal when Stein van Heijningen was handed a yellow card. Della Torre Nicolas opened the scoring for the South American team with a shot from a penalty corner, followed by a second goal by Ferreiro Martin just two minutes later. Argentina ran out of steam towards the end of the match, but they had an unbeatable lead over Argentina and won the first leg 5-2.

In a post-match interview, Derck de Vilder said, "I am very happy that we won. We played man to man in the first half, and it went well. In the second half, we switched to zonal marking. We had trouble with that and could not find each other.

Both the squads will lock horns again in the second leg of the match on June 2.