Canadian Men open Chile Series with a hard-fought win
August 1, 2010
By: Yan Huckendubler
The Canadian men opened their 5-game series against Chile with a hard-fought win on UBC Wright Field in Vancouver. It was their first game since the World Cup in March and the group was completely different after the international retirements of Paul WETTLAUFER, Wayne FERNANDES, Scott SANDISON and Connor GRIMES, and the unavailability of Ranjeev DEOL and Gabbar SINGH. Coach Alan BRAMST had to rebuild a brand new defensive line and called upon verteran Rob SHORT to settle the defense with his experience.
Canada started well and though that they had scored early, but the deflection was deemed outside the circle. Chile responded immediately and Thomas KANNEGIESSER nearly scored with a diving deflection, but it was Sebastian KAPSCH who opened the scoring in the 17th minute, surprising the defense by jumping on a cross.
Canada reacted strongly and Ian KOPPENBERGER in the Chilean goal was saved by his post, the first of many times today, before Canada forced a series a penalty-corners. They could not generate a shot on the first one, but Scott TUPPER made no mistake on the second one, leveling the score in the 25th minute. Canada could have increased the score in the final minute of the period but were denied again by the post.
Chile were circulating the ball well, showing their superior collective experience, but Canada were holding tight in defense and mounting some fast counter-attacks, including a move that swept the whole field with Scott TUPPER, Ken PEREIRA and Devhon TEXEIRA, playing well for his first international Cap. Canada finally scored on another penalty-corner, this time by Phil WRIGHT with a well-timed slide to deflect in goal the initial shot by TUPPER.
Canada nearly wasted their thin advantage when a ball was carelessly lost by the defense, forcing Anthony KINDLER to an acrobatic save. They nevertheless dominated the end of the period but could not increase their tally after hitting again the post and the crossbar of the Chilean goal!
Coach Alan Brahmst was satisfied with this first match in four months, with a renewed team including a lot of young players. “We had a poor start and simply did not execute well a number of things. But we found our groove in second period and dominated the ball possession. We had 6 penalty-corners and we hit the post or the crossbar 4 times! There is obviously a lot to fix, but all in all it is a good start”
Canada: Philip Wright, Scott Tupper, Ben Martin, Jess Watson, Richard Hildreth, Ken Pereira, Dave Jameson,
Rob Short, Devhon Texeira, Connor Meakin, Iain Smythe, Matt Guest, Adam Froese, Taylor Curran, Anthoni Kindler (GK)
Goals:
17mn CHI Sebastian KAPSCH (FG)
25mn CAN Scott TUPPER (PC)
56mn CAN Philip WRIGHT (PC)
