This country's junior men's hockey team will be looking to rebound from a 9-0 hammering by Argentina, when they come up against Guatemala in their final Pool A match at the Pan American Junior (Under-21) Hockey Championship. This will be at the Pan American Hockey Stadium, Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico, from 10 am today. After starting with two wins over Jamaica (8-1) and Brazil (5-0), the local junior stickmen were humbled by the Argentines in a one-sided contest on Friday, and after yesterday's rest-day will need a win to cement the second spot in the five-team group, to advance to one of two second round main-draw groups. Argentina currently leads with maximum nine points after blasting Guatemala 24-0 and Jamaica 8-0 in its two other matches while T&T remained second with six points, two more than the Brazilians who defeated Guatemala 7-1 and drew 0-0 with Jamaica, yesterday.
With T&T expected to get past Guatemala with relative ease, Brazil needed to beat Jamaica in their clash last night, but came up short and must now hope the "Calypso Stickmen" stumble against Guatemala and it get a win against the rampant Argentines, to advance. In the two other groups, Canada and Mexico (Pool B), and USA and Chile (Pool C) have already secured second round main draw places. At the end of the first round, the top team in Pool A and Pool C as well as the runner-up from Pool B will advance to second round Pool D, while the winner of Pool B and the runners-up from Pool A and C will contest Pool E from which the two qualifiers for the FIH tenth Men's Junior World Cup will be determined. The third place finisher will be the first reserve team. The teams placing third in Pool A and C and fourth in Pool B will comprise Pool F while the third placed team in Pool B, as well as the fourth placed teams in Pool A and C and fifth in Pool B will compete in Pool G all for positions seventh through 13.
Meanwhile, the junior women's will also be keen to keep their slim chance of qualifying for the main draw semifinal when they tackle winless Paraguay from 11.45 am. T&T started its campaign well with a 3-0 shut-out of Jamaica but then suffered losses to Venezuela (2-3) and USA (1-9), to lie fourth in the six-team group with three points from three matches, the same as Jamaica but with a better goal-difference. At the top of the group and certain of a semifinal spot is Chile with 12 points from four matches, while USA is next with nine and Venezuela, six with one match left to play for all three teams. T&T will also meet Chile tomorrow in its final round-robin match from 3.15 pm, while USA faces Jamaica and Paraguay plays Venezuela with second spot up for grabs ahead of cross-over playoffs. In Pool A, Argentina leads with maximum nine points from three matches, two ahead of Uruguay which it faces today in the final round, while Canada and Mexico face of in the other. At the end of the round-robin preliminary round, the top two teams in each group will meet in cross-over playoffs, while the other teams will also meet in playoffs for positions fifth through 11th. The two finalists and the third place team will then qualify for the FIH Seventh Women's Junior World Cup. If a PAHF National Association is the host, that country will qualify automatically, together with the two highest placed teams, not including the host.
Current Standings
Men:
Pool A:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Argentina 3 3 0 0 41 0 9
T&T 3 2 0 1 13 10 6
Brazil 2 1 0 1 7 6 3
Jamaica 2 0 0 2 1 16 0
Guatemala 2 0 0 2 1 31 0
Pool B
Canada 3 3 0 0 21 1 9
Mexico 3 2 0 1 20 3 6
Uruguay 2 0 0 2 0 10 0
Puerto Rico 2 0 0 2 0 27 0
Pool C
USA 3 3 0 0 12 5 9
Chile 3 1 1 1 8 5 4
Venezuela 2 0 1 3 3 7 1
Barbados 2 0 0 2 5 11 0
Women
Pool A:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Argentina 3 3 0 0 24 0 9
Uruguay 3 2 1 0 11 2 7
Canada 3 1 1 1 9 8 4
Mexico 3 1 0 2 3 11 3
Brazil 4 0 0 4 0 26 0
Pool B:
Chile 4 4 0 0 32 2 12
USA 4 3 0 1 27 3 9
Venezuela 4 2 0 2 8 22 6
T&T 3 1 0 2 6 12 3
Jamaica 4 1 0 3 2 17 3
Paraguay 3 0 0 3 0 19 0
