Argentina include eight Olympians

have selected only eight Olympians for the six friendly matches against Malaysia in Buenos Aires.

Stephen Van Huizen’s side are using the stint to prepare for the Jakarta Asian Games in August, where his team hope to win the gold medal and qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Malaysia and Argentina will play the first friendly today.

“I saw several Argentina players, who played at the 2016 Rio Olympics, during breakfast at our hotel, including goalkeeper (Juan) Vivaldi. However I am not sure how may Olympians will be fielded against us tomorrow,” said Van Huizen in Buenos Aires yesterday.

Argentina, the reigning Olympic champions, have also included 10 players with not more than 65 caps for the matches.

The Olympians in the squad are Vivaldi, Juan Gilardi (152 caps), Perdro Ibarra (152), Matias Paredes (319), Juan Lopez (250), Lucas Rossi (199), Joaquin Menini (87) and Isidoro Ibarra (28).

Penalty corner specialist Gonzalo Peillat, who played for Terengganu Hockey Team in the recent Malaysia Hockey League, is not in the Argentina squad.

At the recent Azlan Shah Cup, Malaysia upset Argentina 2-1 in the pool round but lost 3-2 to the South Americans in a classification match for third position.

The first official match between both teams ended in a 1-1 draw at the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

“We came here with a mission to improve our game. We need these matches to prepare for the Asian Games,” Van Huzen added.

For the record, Malaysia last qualified for the Olympics in 2000.