Peillat, Argentina's Oly hero, shifts loyalty to Germany

Indervir Grewal

Chandigarh, March 27

When Germany earned a penalty corner within the first minute of their FIH Pro League men’s hockey match against Spain, a familiar face was seen at the top of the semi-circle, ready to unleash his drag-flick. There was something very odd about the scene though — the player was Gonzalo Peillat, who had climbed to the top of the Olympics podium in Argentina colours over six years ago.

Peillat, one of the deadliest drag-flickers in the game, was one of the stars of Argentina’s golden generation that won the nation its first World Cup medal — a bronze in 2014 — and its first Olympics medal — a gold at the 2016 Rio Games. Peillat was the top-scorer in both the tournaments.

However, after the 2018 World Cup, in which Argentina failed to go past the quarterfinals, Peillat quit the national team due to a falling-out with the national federation. “Our federation keeps on changing coaches every three months. They aren’t capable to manage any issues and hence we have massive problems every year,” Peillat had said back then.

Already playing club hockey in Europe, Peillat moved to Germany. He has since been based in Mannheim, playing for Mannheimer HC. Recently, Peillat acquired the German citizenship. After a four-year long gap, the 29-year-old made a return to international hockey in Monchengladbach on Saturday.

As expected, Peillat, who has a scoring rate of over 100 percent in international hockey, was in his element. It took him only 45 seconds to open his account for Germany, who went on to win the match 2-1. Though Peillat couldn’t add to his tally from three more penalty corner opportunities — denied by a miraculous goal-line save — his inclusion in the already dangerous Germany is a worrisome development for their opponents.

Despite being one of the greatest teams in men’s hockey, Germany’s one big weakness has been their penalty-corner conversion rate. In their 4-5 bronze medal playoff loss against India at the Tokyo Olympics, Germany earned over 10 penalty corners but converted just once. Having failed to medal at both the World Cup and the Olympics, Germany would be hoping for Peillat to provide the winning touch.