US Field Hockey News

U.S. Men FAll to Argentina, 4-0, at Pan Am Games

SANTO DOMINGO – Argentina used a three-goal second half to overcome a tough USA defense and down the U.S. men’s field hockey team, 4-0, in pool play of the Pan American Games tournament.

With the loss, the USA dropped to 0-1-1 in the tournament, but remained alive for a possible berth in the tournament semifinals. To place in the top two in the pool and advance to the semifinals, the U.S. will need a combination of a victory over the Dominican Republic and a Chile loss to Argentina on Wednesday. The U.S. would then half to edge Chile in the goal-differential tiebreaker to advance.

“The defense played very well. They were very organized,” said U.S. head coach Shiv Jagday. “I was very pleased with the way they anticipated the ball and intercepted the passes. Their tackling skills were awesome.”

The U.S. defense frustrated the world’s sixth ranked team throughout the first with six saves from goalkeeper Jason Wellings  (Thousand very Oaks, Calif.) and sure tackling from backs Shawn Nakamura (Camarillo, Calif.) and Rinku Bhamber (Simi Valley, Calif.). 

Argentina finally got on the scoreboard late in the first half on a Mathias Vila penalty corner goal, but the U.S. continued to cut off Argentina’s passing lanes and shutout Argentina’s high-scoring forward Jorge Lombi.

“It was just a matter of making sure we were marking the zone and playing off the ball,” said Bhamber on the U.S. defense.  “It wasn’t an actual thing where we were saying we had to block this guy (Lombi) out. It was more of a zonal type defense where we were going to block off their lanes first and then close down on them.”

The Pan American Games leading scorer in 1999 Lombi was held scoreless against the U.S. after connecting on 9 goals in Argentina’s 30-0 win against the Dominican Republic.

The defensive tactics set up a pair of quick-strike U.S. counter attacks in the first half, but Argentina keeper Pablo Moreira  knocked down Pat Harris’ (Moorpark, Calif.) shot and Daraspreet Kainth (Fullerton, Calif.) couldn’t make a play on his fast break opportunity.

After taking a 2-0 second half lead on Carlos Retegui’s penalty corner, Argentina slowed down the play in the second half to a chorus of boos and whistles from the Parque del Este crowd. But with 10 minutes remaining, Argentina’s Mario Almada took advantage of a rare lapse in the USA defense to seal the win on a pair of field goals.

“I said before that we could be our toughest opponent,” said Jagday. But I have to give credit to Argentina, because they capitalized on our mistakes. These are unforced errors -  schoolboy mistakes - that we cannot afford to make.”

The U.S. men return to action Wednesday at 17h30 against the Dominican Republic, and will have the luxury of knowing what kind of score they may have to post in order to make the semifinals after Argentina faces Chile at 8h30.

“We put ourselves in this position by not taking control of the situation against Chile (a 0-0 draw),” said U.S. coach Shiv Jagday. “But that’s the beauty of the game, that’s the challenge. If the mystery wasn’t there, then why play?”

Argentina 4, USA 0

United States
Starters: Jang Badhesha, Pat Harris, Jarred Martin, Shawn Hindy,   Rinky Bhamber, Ian Scally, Pat Cota, Shawn Nakamura, Daljeet Sagoo, Koijan Kainth, Jason Wellings (GK)

Reserves: Gurpal Kundi, Daraspreet Kainth, David Schmoyer

Argentina

Starters: Pablo Moreira (GK), Lucas Camareri, Ezequiel Paulon, Marion Almada, Carlos Retegui, Tomas MacCormick, Matias Paredes, Marco Riccardi, Jorge Lombi, Fernando Zylberberg, German Orozco

Reserves: Matias Vila, Juan Esraris, Fernando Oscaris

Cards: USA: Shawn Hindy (G, 42), Matias Vila (G, 30), Pablo Hourquebie (Y, 48)

Umpires: Donny Gobinsingh (TRI), Nathan Stano (GBR)

www.usfieldhockey.com