Argentina have been crowned as the winners of the Men's Pan American Cup thanks to a hugely impressive 4-0 victory in the tournament final on Sunday. Ace defender and penalty corner expert Gonzalo Peillat was the star of the show, scoring all four goals in the second half to earn a memorable victory over the defending champions and tournament hosts. It was a brilliant performance by the South American giants, a team that under new coach Carlos Retegui is rapidly developing a reputation as one of the most feared in the game.
Argentina's triumph means that they will go through to the 2014 Rabobank Hockey World Cup as continental champions, with Canada missing out on a place at next year's showpiece event in The Hague. Argentina had already reached the required qualifying standard thanks to a second place finish at the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, an achievement that has now been superseded by their Pan American Cup win. The Pan American Cup result was good news for Korea, who were promoted from first reserves to guaranteed World Cup qualifiers thanks to Argentina's success. More information about this story can be found by clicking here.
Earlier in the day, Trinidad & Tobago earned their first Pan American medal since 1967, coming back from an early deficit to win the Bronze Medal match against the USA (3-1). Chile edged aside Mexico (6-3) for 5th place in a wide open game. Brazil needed a shoot-out to grab 7th place from Uruguay after a 2-2 draw.
More information about the matches can be found below, with complete tournament information being available on www.panamhockey.org .
Match 20 - Final - Argentina vs. Canada: 4-0 (half-time: 0-0)
Canada came into the tournament final knowing that a victory would be enough to seal a berth at the 2014 Rabobank Hockey World Cup. However, a win for Argentina - who have already achieved World Cup qualification thanks to a second place finish at the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Johor Bahru, Malaysia - would guarantee first reserves Korea, who finished fourth in Johor, a place at next year's showpiece event in The Hague.
The two teams started nervously, with the Canadian defenders making errmishandling a few balls and Lucas Rey missing a virtually open net in the opening minute of play. The first serious chance was for Canada when Matthew Sarmento forced a penalty-corner on a powerful circle entry after sprinting 50 meters to save the ball from the back-line. The Canadians chose a fancy option but it did not work and play settled in midfield for a short while.
Argentina had most of ball possession but the Canadians were closing very quickly on them. Matias Paredes nevertheless managed to enter the circle to challenge Dave Carter, but the Canadian keeper stood tall in front of him to deny the attempt. The Canadian defense was overwhelmed by a few swift Argentinean moves and free hits played quickly, and Argentina forced a series of penalty-corners, but Dave Carter saved brilliantly two of them and two other went wide.
The Canadians were only dangerous on sporadic counter-attacks, and the match was slowly turning into a classic encounter between the continental arch-rivals, with Argentina dominating the proceedings and Canada frustrating them again and again.
Argentina thought that they had scored in the 28th minute on yet another penalty-corner but the goal was denied, and the Canadians were still very much alive, with even a handful of good chances in the final minutes of the period, finally forcing Juan Vivaldi to show his talent in the Argentinean goal.
Argentina were promptly on the scoreboard at the beginning of second period, on a penalty-corner by Gonzalo Peillat. The same Peillat powered another penalty-corner 3 minutes later, and the Canadians were suddenly facing a steep slope to go back in the game.
Gonzalo Peillat completed his hat-trick of penalty-corners in the 48th minute, putting the match virtually out of reach of the Canadian squad. They nevertheless kept pushing, encouraged by the local crowd, but could never really challenge dangerously Juan Vivaldi. The Canadian defenders were getting tired, conceding a number of penalty-corners, and Gonzalo Peillat tallied his fourth goal of the Final in the 57th minute.
Argentina controlled the end of the match to cruise to a convincing 4-0 win against home team Canada, to wrestle back the Pan American Cup from the hands of the 2009 winners. They were soon celebrating at the centre of the pitch, while the Canadian players were dejected, their World Cup dreams evaporated.
For more information and pictures of ARG vs. CAN, click here.
Match 19 - 3rd-4th - Trinidad & Tobago vs. USA: 3-1 (half-time: 1-1)
Both teams played well in this competition, with a similar free-flowing attacking style, and did not want to leave Brampton empty handed. The match started with an observation period, the defenses leaving little manoeuvering room around the circle and Kwan Browne under close watch from Sean Harris.
The Trinidadians tried to inject some speed in the game but were hindered by unforced errors, and there was hardly any serious danger for the goal-keepers in the first ten minutes of play. The first opportunity was for the USA on a penalty-corner in the 12th minute and Aki Kaeppeler stepped up to propel the ball out of reach of the Trinidadian defense to open the score. Pat Harris had an opportunity soon after but Andrey Rocke did well to protect the Trinidadian goal.
Harris promptly created another chance with a long solitary run and a little lob over the sliding goal-keeper, but the ball was saved on the line by a desperate retreating dive by Mickell Pierre. Trinidad & Tobago had two penalty-corners immediately after, and Wayne Legerton powered a phenomenal bullet high in goal after calmly picking-up the rebound from the first shot by Kwan Browne. Both teams were back at square one with ten minutes to go in the half..
The USA applied intense pressure in the last five minutes of the period but it nearly backfires on a swift counter-attack by Mickell Pierre illegally stopped by Jon Ginolfi at the cost of a yellow card, but Trinidad & Tobago could not do much of the subsequent penalty-corner. Half-time was reached on a level score and the impression that the match could quickly switch either way.
The USA conceded a penalty-corner on the first action of second period but Chris Rea was up to the task in the American goal. He was however clearly beaten from close range by Mickell Pierre in the 43rd minute, on a penalty-corner that did not seem to go anywhere but Kwan Browne still managing to slide the ball across the running defenders.
The USA started to be unhappy, with themselves and the umpires, and some cards had to be shown. The Americans managed to settle down their emotions and applied more and more pressure, but their last passes were inaccurate and the Trinidadians seemed happy just trying to weather the storm for a while. They were saved by Dwain Quan Chan with a spectacular stick save on the post but were pushed back further and further on their heels by the Americans, playing now with real urgency to come back in the game.
It was however Trinidad & Tobago who were next on the scoreboard on a penalty-corner forced in a rare counter-attack, and once again powered under the crossbar by Wayne Legerton to establish a slightly more comfortable cushion with 9 minutes to go.
Soon Trinidad & Tobago were celebrating their first Pan American medal since 1967 (Pan Am Games + Pan Am Cups), while the Americans were dejected to be pushed off the podium, certainly regretting their first period missed opportunities.
For more information and pictures of TTO vs. USA, click here.
Match 18 - 5th-6th - Chile vs. Mexico: 6-3 (half-time: 2-2)
Jaime Zarhi was honoured before the match for his 100th international Cap for Chile.
The Chileans were bitterly disappointed to be relegated to the second-tier play-off matches, missing the semi-finals of a Pan American competition for the first time since 1995. They started the game slowly and were immediately under pressure from the young Mexicans, in fine form after the rest day. Francisco Aguilar managed to steal a ball from a defender, setting up Guillermo Pedraza for the first goal for Mexico in the 10th minute of play.
This was the wake-up call Chile needed and they scores two quick goals by Martin Rodriguez to jump into the lead. Play settled after the initial burst of actions, with Chile trying to control the proceedings. They had a few chances, including on penalty-corner, but were denied by Moisés Vargas in the Mexican goal and could not deepen the gap.
Mexico were more efficient at the other end, forcing a penalty-corner in one of their rare forays in Chilean territory by Francisco Aguilar, who converted it himself to level the score just before the half-time break.
Chile pushed forward early and thought that they had taken the lead again on a penalty-corner, but the umpire had whistled a penalty-stroke before and Moisés Vargas kept his team in the game with an excellent save on the stroke. Chile were however successful on their next penalty-corner attempt by Vicente Martin for a narrow one-goal lead, then quickly added another goal by Fernando Fernandez to establish a more comfortable two-goal cushion.
The Mexicans were not down yet and Francisco Aguilar added another penalty-corner, his 2nd goal of the match and 7th of the competition. They threw caution to the wind in the final minutes to try and level the score, but they had to loosen their defense to push forward and Chile added a 5th goal after a superbly executed combination on a penalty-corner that ended on the post at Jaime Zarhi, celebrating in style his 100th Cap.
The Mexicans kept trying, but the slope was too steep now to climb back in the game, and Chile grabbed 5th place of the competition, pushing down Mexico to 6th (but still one step higher than their ranking entering the competition).
For more information and pictures of CHI vs. MEX, click here.
Match 17 - 7-8 - Uruguay vs. Brazil: 2-2 (half-time: 1-1, shoot-out 2-0)
Brazil played well in this competition, losing their three pool matches but giving their opponents a good fight (Canada 1-3, Trinidad & Tobago 2-5 then Chile 0-5). They were unlucky in their cross-over game, only losing in the final minutes to Mexico (2-3) after leading during most of the match. Uruguay lost all their matches by hefty margins but came into this classification match well determined to give a hard time to their South American rivals.
Brazil took control of the tempo of play and were early on the scoreboard by Lucas Paixão, exploiting well an hesitation of the defense. Uruguay reacted immediately, pushing forward and surprising Brazil to force a penalty-corner, converted by Maximiliano Tixe.
After this burst of activity, play settled in midfield, slowing a notch. Brazil had more possession but could not challenge dangerously the Uruguayan circle and half-time was reached on a tied score 1-1.
Fatigue of five high-level matches in a week started to creep up in second period, and play became unsettled, with unforced errors and passes going astray on both sides. Brazil missed a couple of chances but their captain Ernst Rost Onnes was on target on a penalty-corner in the 52nd minute, slotting a low flick out of reach of Jose Lasa in the Uruguayan goal.
With time passing, tempers flared a tad, with some rough tackles as a result of fatigue and frustration. Uruguay had a late surge, forced a penalty-corner with five minutes to go in the period and Hubertus Reinbach in the Brazilian goal seemed surprised by Juan Canessa’s low flick directly to the centre of goal, leveling the score and setting the stage for a very animated end of regular time.
With the tied score, match was to be decided by shoot-outs, for the first time in this competition. Hubertus Reinbach saved the first 4 Uruguayan attempts and, after some controversy, Brazil went on to win the shoot-out competition to grab 7th place, leaving Uruguay upset and dejected with the wooden spoon.
For more information and pictures of URU vs. BRA, click here.
Final Standings:
1) Argentina
2) Canada
3) Trinidad & Tobago
4) USA
5) Chile
6) Mexico
7) Brazil
8) Uruguay
Player of the Tournament: Kwan BROWNE (Trinidad & Tobago)
Goal-keeper of the Tournament: Hubertus REINBACH (Brazil)
Tournament XI:
Hubertus REINBACH (GK, Brazil))
Facundo CALLIONI (Argentina)
Lucas REY (Argentina)
Lucas VILA (Argentina)
Ernst ROST ONNES (Brazil)
Scott TUPPER (Canada)
Mark PEARSON (Canada)
Francisco AGUILAR (Mexico)
Kwan BROWNE (Trinidad & Tobago)
Akim TOUSSAINT (Trinidad & Tobago)
Pat HARRIS (USA)
Source material: PAHF
