T&T men's hockey team will need to pick themselves up after a 12-2 quarterfinal loss to Ireland on Thursday when they tackle Italy in their fifth to eight place semifinal in the FIH World Hockey League Men's Round Two qualifiers at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Centre, San Diego, California from 12.45pm.
The loss for world 30th ranked T&T against the Irish was the fourth on the trot in the tournament after it suffered defeats to Russia (6-1), USA (7-1) and Canada (3-0) in round-robin Pool B play.
This after topping its round one qualifying series in Kingston, Jamaica with wins over Jamaica, Barbados and Dominican Republic.
Italy, on the other hand, was beaten in its Pool A opener by Austria 3-1, but rebounded to defeat Chile 2-1 and the went under to the Irish 2-0 in its final round-robin match, before bowing to Canada, 4-0 in Thursday's quarterfinal.
In the other fifth to eighth playoff from 2.45pm, 27th ranked USA and Chile, 25th, will tangle after losing their last-eight match-ups to Austria (2-1) and Russia, 5-4 via penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 draw respectively.
In today's main draw semis, the rampant Irish, ranked 15th in the world comes up against 14th ranked Canada from 5pm followed by Russia, ranked 19th versus 22nd rated Austria.
The finals and other playoff matches are carded for tomorrow at the end of which the top three teams will qualify to the Hockey World League semi-finals (Round Three), where coveted berths at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games are up for grabs.
Malaysia, Poland and Japan all qualified for the HWL Semifinals thanks to top three finishes at the event in Singapore (SIN) earlier this year while the remaining qualifiers involving host South Africa, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France and Switzerland takes place in Cape Town from Saturday until March 15.
Today's semifinals playoffs
Fifth to Eight:
T&T vs Italy, 12.30pm
USA vs Chile, 2.45pm
Main Draw:
Ireland vs Canada, 5pm
Austria vs Russia, 7.15pm