Chile breaks Calypso Stickmen 4-0

T&T’s men hockey squad was beaten 4-0 by rivals Chile for a second straight loss in their six-team Second Round of FIH World Hockey League qualifiers at the Deodoro Field Hockey Centre, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. 

Following Wednesday’s 9-2 hammering by recently crowned South American champions and world tenth-ranked Argentina in their opener, T&T captain Darren Cowie and his world 34th-ranked squad were hoping for a repeat of their 2-1 win on home soil over the Chileans when T&T hosted the Round One qualifiers last November at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua.

However, Chile, coming off a hard fought 1-0 win over USA in its opener, which preceded a runner-up finish at the South American Championship in early February, was in no mood to suffer a second straight loss to the “Calypso Stickmen” and used goals from four different players to keep pace with Argentina and South Africa at the top of the table with six points each.

For the 25th-ranked Chile, Jamie Zarhi banged the opener as early as the third minute past T&T goalkeeper Andrey Rocke before Fernando Fernandes made it 2-0 just before the half.

On the resumption, Alexis Berczely with a 44th-minute penalty corner and Sven Richter, ten minutes from full-time, added one each for Chile, which now sits third on the table based on goal difference behind Argentina and South Africa.

The Argentinians continued their free scoring by blasting host Brazil 10-0 led by hat-tricks from Lucas Vila (17th, 35th, 57th) and Guillermo Schickendantz (29th, 33rd, 64th) while Matias Paredes added a double (43rd, 51st), all after Gonzalo Peillat and Nahuel Salis made it 2-0 with items in the eighth and 13th minute, respectively. 

South Africa also continued its goal onslaught by hammering USA 6-1 to add to its 9-2 thrashing of Brazil. For the Proteas, Lloyd Norris-Jones helped himself to a second-half brace (42nd, 60th) while Clinton Panther, Timothy Drummond, Austin Smith and Julian Hykes chipped in with the others. USA got its lone reply via Manuel Alan Martinez in the 63rd. 

Today is a rest day for all teams, while tomorrow the T&T squad, without the services of England-based Kwandwane Browne due to club commitments and the quartet of Shaquille Daniel, Fire Service recruit Kiel Murray, Alan Henderson and Andrew Vieira due to work and school duties, will go after its first win when it faces South Africa from 10 am, while USA and Brazil flick off the day’s action two hours earlier. Argentina and Chile then close out the day’s action in a repeat of the South American final, which ended 4-3.

World Hockey League men’s results 

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Yesterday: 
 Argentina 10 (Lucas Vila 17th, 35th, 57th, Guillermo Schickendantz 29th, 33rd, 64th, Matias Paredes 43rd, 51st, Gonzalo Peillat 8th, Nahuel Salis 13th) vs Brazil 0 
South Africa 6 (Lloyd Norris-Jones 42nd, 60th, Clinton Panther 3rd, Timothy Drummond 39th, Austin Smith 54th, Julian Hykes 56th) vs USA 1 (Manuel Alan Martinez 63rd)
Chile 4 (Jaime Zarhi 3rd, Fernando Fernandes 27th, Alexis Berczely 44th, Sven Richter 60th) vs T&T 0
 
Remaining schedule:
Tomorrow:
 USA vs Brazil, 8 am
 T&T vs South Africa, 10 am
 Chile vs Argentina, 2.30 pm

Sunday:
 USA vs T&T, 8 am
 South Africa vs Argentina, 10 am
 Brazil vs Chile, 12.30 pm
 
Tuesday:
 Chile vs South Africa, 8 am
 Argentina vs USA, 10 am
 Brazil vs T&T, 2.30 pm