Mexico earned their first win at the Pan American Cup
in Brampton, narrowly edging Uruguay (2-1). Argentina had no problem
disposing of the USA (8-0) to secure their semi-final berth.
Match 6 - USA vs. Argentina: 0-8 (half-time: 0-4)
USA were also playing their first match of the
competition and were facing a tough opposition, Argentina having already
found their rhythm against Mexico.
It did not take long for the South
Americans to jump into the lead by Facundo Callioni, already his 5th
goal of the competition.
Argentina were totally dominating the proceedings and added 3 more
goals at regular intervals, despite a solid American defence, well
backed by Chris Rea in goal. Half-time was reached with a comfortable lead for Argentina (4-0) and they kept their relentless scoring spree after the break, with a special mention for Guillermo Schickendantz who scored a superb reverse stick goal in an impossibly narrow angle.
Final score was 8-0 for Argentina, already moving them into the semi-finals.
Match 5 - Mexico vs. Uruguay: 2-1 (half-time: 0-0)
Uruguay played their first match of the Pan American
Cup after their unfortunate travel delay (their plane was hit by
lightning after leaving Montevideo…) and were immediately under pressure
from the young Mexicans, who had already found their competitive rhythm
in their match against Argentina.
Mexico were all over the Uruguayan circle in the opening 20 minutes
but could not generate clear opportunities and Uruguay managed to
weather the storm. Play became more equal and teams traded penalty-corners, but to no avail and the score was still 0-0 going into the break.
Play flowed back and forth in second period, but
neither team could take control of the proceedings and very few scoring
chances were generated.
Joaquin Rodriguez Bermudez had a good
opportunity for Uruguay when he arrived alone in the circle, but Moisés
Vargas in the Mexican goal cleared the ball with a strong sliding stick
save.
This was the wake-up call Mexico needed and they scored on the next
action, Guillermo Pedraza collecting the ball after a broken
penalty-corner and slotting it neatly under Jose Lasa in the Uruguayan
goal. Alex Valdes added another goal for Mexico soon after, showing great individual skills to pivot twice in the circle and put the ball out of reach of the goal-keeper.
Uruguay came back within one goal by Maximiliano Tixe,
setting up a hot final end of match, but Mexico held tight to earn their
win of the competition (2-1).
