England-based Teague Marcano continued his stellar display at the inaugural 16-nation FIH Hockey 5s World Cup with a five-goal outing to lead the Calypso Stickmen to an emphatic 11-4 mauling of New Zealand to top Pool C in Muscat, Oman, on Monday.
With the win, the Akim Toussaint-captained ‘Calypso Stickmen’ finished top of their four-team round-robin group with seven points from three matches, the same as fellow qualifiers to the quarterfinals Kenya, but with a superior goal-difference of plus-12 to the Africans plus-three, to set up a quarterfinal today with Malaysia.
In Tuesday’s other quarterfinals, Netherlands meets India, Oman comes up against Kenya, and Egypt battles Poland.
Coming off a 5-5 draw with Australia in their curtain-raiser on Sunday, and a 7-2 spanking of Kenya in their second match, the Darren Cowie-coached T&T men needed only a draw against New Zealand to secure a top-two finish in the pool at the Hockey Oman Venue in Al Amarat, the same venue which hosted the just concluded FIH Hockey Paris Olympic qualifiers after Kenya topped Australia 7-4 in the earlier match in the pool.
However, the New Zealanders who need a win to advance after a 1-6 to Kenya and a 6-5 defeat of neighbours Australia after trailing 5-0 were first to strike as early as the first minute through Mark Bell-Kake in the second minute.
That lead lasted for five minutes before the red-hot Marcano, the scorer of hat-tricks in T&T’s first two matches got his team on level terms.
Within two minutes, Marcano who plies his trade in the England Hockey League Premier Division with Southgate fired T&T ahead following a strike from Jordan Vieira for a 3-1 lead before Taimana Iversen replied for the Kiwis in the 13th minute for a 2-3 scoreline at the half-time interval.
Whatever coach Cowie said to his players at the interval had an immediate impact on their resumption with Marcano scoring two quick-fire goals in the 16th, and 17th with Mickell Pierre adding his name to the scoresheet also in the 17th to blow the contest at 6-2.
New Zealand managed to stem the flow of goals with one of their own in the 19th, the second of the match for Iversen, but Shaquille Daniel (20th) and Marcano (21st), the latter with his fifth of the contest, and 11th overall to be tournament joint-second most goals scorer, then responded for T&T to extend the lead to 8-3.
Bell-Kake then got a fourth item for New Zealand in the 23rd to trail 4-8, but the rampant ‘Calypso Stickmen’ were not done yet, and added further items through Toussaint (25th), Tariq Marcano (26th), and Toussaint, with his second of the match in the 27th to seal a lopsided triumph.
Speaking after the win, Cowie who led the Calypso Stickmen to qualification for the World Cup after a second-placed finish to the USA at the Hockey5s Pan American Cup in Kingston, Jamaica last June by a margin of 3-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in regulation time said he was pleased with the very efficient performance from the players.
He added, “Throughout the group phase we grew in confidence from game to game, and we started to put together complete performances. But, actually, in this New Zealand game, we had a slow and lackadaisical start, but we started to build on our communication and energy level and we eventually came out with the victory.
Looking ahead to today’s clash with Malaysia with a possible semifinal to follow later in the day, Cowie said, “We have to go back and look at their tactics and their style and then come up with a plan to execute and hopefully come away with the win.
The T&T coach added, ‘The confidence level in the team is no doubt high after the group phase but at the same time it’s very controlled and tempered because the guys know that we still have a long way to go.
“The first leg of the tournament is over and we now take that positive energy into the second leg with the hope of medaling,” ended Cowie.
Meanwhile T&T’s Teague Marcano said after the match: “I think we bounced back strong, we stuck together as a team, staying in there for each other, encouraging each other and we just keep building with each game that we played. And the performances just keep getting better and better holistically.”
Yesterday’s Hockey5s men’s World Cup Pool C results
T&T 11 (Teague Marcano 7th, 9th, 16th, 17th, 21st, Akim Toussaint 25th, 27th, Jordan Vieira 10th, Mickell Pierre 17th, Shaquille Daniel 20th, Tariq Marcano 26th) vs New Zealand 4 (Mark Bell-Kake 2nd, 23rd, Taimana Iversen 13th, 19th)
First-Half: TT won 3-2
Second-Half: TT won 8-2
Kenya 7 (Ivan Ludiali 8th, 20th, 28th, Danstone Wabwire 10th, 19th, 22nd, Bethuel Massambu 18th) vs Australia 4 (Jun Sugio 9th, 23rd, Mitchelle Pace 26th, 29th)
Top scorers:
16 - Ashraf Randa (Pakistan)
11- Teague Marcano (T&T), Hannan Shahid (Pakistan)
8 - Mahidner Singh (India)
7 - Akhimullah Anuar (Malaysia), Ahmed Elganaini (Egypt), Hossameldin Ragab (Egypt), Peter John (Nigeria), Gael Wyss-Chodat (Switzerland)
Today’s matches
Main Draw quarterfinals:
Netherlands vs India, 12 midnight
Oman vs Kenya, 1.10 am
Egypt vs Poland, 2.20 am
T&T vs Malaysia, 3.30 am
Semifinals:
Fifth to Eight:
Netherlands/India loser vs Oman/Kenya loser, 10 am
Egypt/Poland loser vs T&T/Malaysia loser, 11.10 am
First to Fourth:
Netherlands/India winner vs Oman/Kenya winner, 12.20 pm
Egypt/Poland winner vs T&T/Malaysia winner, 1.30 pm
Tomorrow
Third place: 11.10 am
Final: 12.20 pm
Final Round-Robin standings
Pool A:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Netherlands 3 3 0 0 19 12 9
Poland 3 2 0 1 18 15 6
Pakistan 3 1 0 2 21 18 3
Nigeria 3 0 0 3 13 26 0
Pool B:
Egypt 3 3 0 0 27 9 9
India 3 2 0 1 28 9 6
Switzerland 3 1 0 2 8 22 3
Jamaica 3 0 0 3 6 29 0
Pool C:
T&T 3 2 1 0 23 11 7
Kenya 3 2 0 1 15 12 6
New Zealand 3 1 0 2 11 22 3
Australia 3 0 1 2 14 18 1
Pool D:
Oman 3 2 1 0 17 10 7
Malaysia 3 2 1 14 8 7
USA 3 1 0 2 20 12 3
Fiji 3 0 0 3 9 30 0
