2024 of Los Leones with better position in Pro League and change of coach

The level of international men’s hockey is increasingly competitive. Each team, regardless of its place in the ranking or whether it has played recently, can compete on equal terms against the powers. That was the case of The Lions in 2024 that, although they closed a year without titles or medals, They made a great leap in their quality of play and were very close to rubbing shoulders with the favorites in the Pro League and in the Olympic Games for a place among the best. It was a changing year, in which there was also a change in the coaching staff and that is how we review it.

2023 had closed with hope for those led by Mariano Ronconi. A positive window in Santiago del Estero in December, after winning the Pan-American title, resulted in events that generated an ideal emotional lift to start the season. In the same scenario, but with different teams, the Argentine men’s hockey team faced Belgium and Germany. They beat a Belgian team full of promising young players 4-1 and then beat the Germans twice on penalties after drawing 2-2 and 1-1 in regular time. In the second meeting with the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions (21), it was a 4-3 defeat.

The squad that Ronconi outlined had a repeated base of 24 players of which 19 would finally travel to the Paris Olympic Games. After the Santiago del Estero series, Los Leones traveled to Terrassa, Spain, for a friendly tour in which they faced the Catalonia team. Over there Tomas Ruizone of Mitre’s three brothers, made his first trip with the Albiceleste team. The only casualties due to injury at that time were Santiago Tarazona and Iñaki Minadeo, which made it possible for Ruiz and Matteo Fernández to enter.

After the close of the Spanish tour, the Argentine team’s last training sessions took place before traveling to Europe again for the two most important objectives of the season: the closure of the Pro League 2023/2024 and the Paris Olympic Games. In the first tournament that granted a direct place to the 2026 World Cup, It was the turn to play against India, Ireland, Spain and Australiatwo games with each one. The balance was five victories (two against the Irish, two against the Spanish and one against the Australians), one draw (against the Indians with a subsequent loss in the shoot-outs) and two defeats (against the Oceanians and the Asians). As a result, Los Leones finished in fourth place, their best historical position in the competition.on equal points with Great Britain, which was third and just two points behind the Netherlands, the runner-up, and Australia, who took the trophy.

Once the Pro League was over, it was the most difficult time for Mariano Ronconi: choosing the 19 players who were going to represent Argentina in Paris 2024. And that’s how he ended up with Tomás Santiago, as the starting goalkeeper who would later be the great figure of Los Leones in the championship. Nicolás Della Torre, Iñaki Minadeo, Tadeo Marcucci, Federico Monja and Juan Ignacio Catán traveled in defense. The midfielders were Agustín Bugallo, Matías Rey, Santiago Tarazona, Thomas Habif and Lucas Toscani. The forward line was made up of Maico Casella, Agustín Mazzilli, Lucas Martínez, Tomás Domene and Bautista Capurro. The reserve players chosen were Nehuén Hernando, Nicolás Keenan and Tobías Martins.

Injustice prevailed in the Argentine tour in the French capital. The beginning was before the hard Australia and with a 1-0 defeat in an undeserved result. Similar case to the tie on the second day against India by 1 to 1. Both games forced Argentina to beat New Zealand and Ireland to have their chance to be in the quarterfinals. And so it was. Against the New Zealanders it was a 2 to 0 almost without objection and with the Irish, the team they beat the most in the year (the five times they faced each other), they beat them by a tight 2 to 1 with Santiago dressed as a hero after who saved a penalty. They closed the group stage against Belgiumremembering the 2016 Olympic final. It was a 3-3 tie and fourth place in the group for those led by Mariano Ronconi.

The big obstacle, the quarterfinals, came against a very tough rival like Germany. In a match not suitable for the faint of heart, the Germans prevailed 3 to 2 and the Argentines came close to tying it at the end. The note was given by Gonzalo Peillat, former Olympic champion with Los Leones, who made controversial statements after the game, after scoring for the Germans.

The painful closure for Los Leones was also the end for Mariano Ronconi as the team’s coach. Mamo He fulfilled his dream of leading Argentina in the Olympic Games, but his desire to take him to fight for a medal did not. After a positive balance, he decided to step aside and paved the way for a new coaching staff. And there it appeared Lucas Reya former member of the golden generation of 2016 and brother of Matías, the team captain. “It’s the biggest challenge you can have,” he told AM850 Hockey.

The Turkwith a new paradigm, was in charge of materializing his dream with the start of a new process that includes a lot of incorporation of technology and maximum study of each moment of the game. Thus the possibility also arose for new faces to take the opportunity to have their initial minutes with the Argentine shirt. At the beginning of the 2024/2025 Pro League against England and Ireland he was the debut for Matías Andreotti, Bruno Correa, Agustín Bonanno, Joaquín Ruiz and Lautaro Domene. Agustín Machelett, Ignacio Ibarra, Felipe Merlini, Lucio Méndez Pin, Facundo Zárate and Tomás Ruiz were also able to wear the albiceleste again.

England was much superior in both matches against Los Leones with victories both times by 3 to 1. However, Argentina was able to close with the joy of winning 4 to 3 again against the Irish, after also beating them in the first match by 1 to 0 .

The year of Los Leones in numbers

In a balance that sounds positive, Los Leones played 22 games and won 10, drew five and lost seven times. They scored 50 goals (2.27 per game) and conceded 45. They finished seventh in the FIH ranking with 2722 points.

The team’s top scorer was intractable: Tomás Domene, who scored 15 goals and was in every game of the year. He was followed by Maico Casella with 8 in 18 games and Lucas Martínez with 6 in 20 games.

Finally, it was a year of several debutants. Seven added their first minutes with the albiceleste shirt. In addition, there were eight who played in the Olympic Games for the first time.