Air force the key
Sanford aims to steer England into semis
ENGLAND will hope to ground Argentina’s title hopes with aerial strength in today’s World Cup quarter-final.
Danny Kerry’s side face the Olympic champions for a place in their third successive semifinal against a side they last beat 20 years ago.
Four years ago Argentina briefly fielded an extra 12th man for two minutes as England lost out in a bronze medal play-off. England’s protests came to no avail and now they will let their hockey do the talking at the 15,000-capacity Kalinga Stadium.
And they have shown their own credentials in the last two games here, where defender Liam Sanford has risen to the occasion. Sanford, 22, who made his debut last year, was man of the match in the 2-0 win over New Zealand thanks to strong running from deep and high lifts into opposition territory.
“I’ve latched on to a couple of them and he has put in some great aerial bombs,” said Phil Roper, England’s forward and co-captain. “He has one of the best aerials in the game.”
Sanford has taken flight down the right flanks with the same gusto as his brief off-field career in the Forces. His rise into England’s hockey ranks has come at the expense of his job as an RAF flight operations assistant.
“My main career is on hold,” said Sanford ahead of the biggest match of his career.
Dealing with Argentinian creativity sounds a doddle compared to Sanford’s day-today work in air traffic control.
He said: “It’s like hockey can be on the pitch where it can be a high-stress environment. But they have really good managers who can deal with stress and the operations team is excellent.”
Sanford, the current RAF Sportsperson of the Year, is still working to promote the Forces and also tours with its hockey side.
He clearly revels in the team environment, with England’s own game plans coming to the fore in India thanks to some assured performances.
“When we stick with each other as a team we are a lot calmer on the ball,” said Sanford. “When it gets tight, you can sometimes get on each other’s backs, which is only natural because we all want to do well.”
England will head into today’s clash with a slight edge over Argentina, having played a brace of games since Los Leones’ last match.
A poor Argentina lost 5-3 to France in their final Pool game which Gonzalo Peillat, their best player, described as a wake-up call.
Roper believes that Kerry, who has only been working with the men’s side for 11 weeks, has already been a major factor.
“We are starting to build something. We are having fun and playing our game,” said Roper. “We’ve played two games and they’ve had a week off, but we don’t know how it will pan out.”
Kerry said: “I’ve had 11 weeks with the team, but we’ve only scratched the surface.
“We’re fighting a lot of instincts from the very different way we have played before.” TV: BT Sport 1, 11.15am