Maria Granatto’s Sublime Dribbling Goal-Assist at the 2022 Pro League vs England is a Visual Treat!

Dribbling skills showcased in field hockey are always a visual treat – something we starved off in modern hockey on Astroturf. The noisy home crowd at CeNARD, Buenos Aires got really excited during the 2022 second leg Pro League game between Argentina and England. And why? It is because the ace Las Leonas striker Maria Granatto brought all her mercurial traits to the fore in that game, showing sublime dribbling to create her team’s fifth goal a game they won 5-2.

The record books would say Julieta Jankunas scored the goal but here the context is not the goal-scorer but how the goal was created by Maria Granatto in what initially appeared to be a routine move from the left.

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The 29-year-old Argentinian forward, who has made more 200 international appearances for Argentina, made everyone at CENARD watch in rapt attention as she churned out probably one of the best field goals created over the last four-five years. A goal-creation that would have even made Indian hockey legends such as Dhyan Chand, Balbir Singh, Mohammed Shahid, Ashok Kumar, Dhanraj Pillay, etc proud.

The Last Leonas were sitting pretty with a cozy 4-2 lead going into the 55th minute of play, when Granatto orchestrated a raid from the left flank – she first dodged Anna Toman on the top of the striking circle, and subsequently dribbled past England captain Hollie Pearne-Webb before wrong-footing Fiana Crackles and Laura Unsworth to set up a tap-in what was a breeze for Julieta Jankunas (her second goal of the match). In all, the two-time Olympian dribbled past four England defenders even as goalkeeper Sabbie Heesh was stunned into silence.

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It was quite a sight to see Granatto weave her way a host of England defenders and create a facile goal-scoring opportunity for Julieta Jankunas. Of course, the record books would say Julieta Jankunas scored the fifth goal for Argentina, but the magnificent dribbling of Granatto will be etched in memory for a long time and will go down as the best goal-creating efforts of Women’s Pro League.

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