Hockey: Gloomy forecast for Archibald

1.00pm - By MARK GEENTY

ATHENS - The chances of Ryan Archibald emulating his father Jeff on to an Olympic hockey field remain slim as New Zealand coach Kevin Towns today rated him just a 20 per cent hope of making the final squad.

Towns oversaw what he rated a "reasonable" showing in the 2-3 loss to Korea today in the first of New Zealand's three warmup matches ahead of their opening match against Australia on Sunday night (NZT).

Archibald wasn't yet deemed ready to take the field after suffering a compound fracture just below the knee in June when hit by a stick at training.

He was given the all clear last week to travel to Athens after making encouraging progress, but Towns remained cautious about his key forward/midfielder, who has 127 international caps at the age of just 23.

"Gut feeling, probably a 20 per cent chance. Despite the courage he's displayed and his desire to play, it's a pretty overwhelming situation for him," Towns said.

New Zealand's two other warmup matches are against Pakistan tomorrow and Germany on Thursday, by which time Towns has to decide whether to jettison Archibald.

Today he took part in team warmups but had to be content with shooting practice at halftime.

"We'll give him another warmup tomorrow and if he gets through that we'll give him the opportunity to play on Thursday, then make a decision during the game," Towns said.

"I'll be able to tell pretty quickly. I have no issues with his aerobic fitness or his stick skills.

"He'll need some time on the pitch coming on and off, and it'll be pretty apparent to me whether he can cope or not. He's going to have to cope as one of the 16, we can't play with 15."

New Zealand showed some rustiness today in their first match in Athens, against a side ranked fourth in the world.

Both sides struggled with the new turf which caused problems with players' timing of the ball in the tough 30degC heat.

The match was scoreless at halftime but New Zealand took the lead soon afterwards when 1992 Barcelona Olympics veteran Umesh Parag fed David Kosoof who scored from point blank range.

After two quick goals by the Koreans, one from a penalty corner, New Zealand levelled when Phillip Burrows made a big tackle and Parag pounced on the loose ball to round the goalkeeper.

The main concern for New Zealand was failing to win any penalty corners to give their strike weapon Hayden Shaw a chance from the top of the circle.

There was plenty to work on in the next few days as New Zealand try to make up lost time after Malaysia opted out of their series earlier in the year.

New Zealand went on to lose a series 0-3 to Australia, then lost 2-7 to Spain fresh off the plane in Barcelona before a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"We know we're underdone and we have to get as much as we can out of the three games here," Towns said.

- NZPA