South Africa defeats Canada in Salta
December 8, 2009
The Canadian men’s national field hockey team were defeated by South Africa 4-1 Tuesday afternoon in Salta, Argentina. It was Canada’s second game of the 2009 International Hockey Federation (FIH) Champions Challenge after a 2-1 loss to Pakistan on Sunday.
Both teams started tentatively, with the first chance for Canada when Connor Grimes received a good cross from Mark Pearson but was prevented from deflecting it in goal. Canada kept pushing, with Rob Short and Pearson very active in the 25, but wasted a few plays with high passes in the circle. The Canadians seemed to control play, but were in danger on a counter-attack by Lloyd Norris-Jones that found Thornton McDade alone in front of Dave Carter in the Canadian goal, but the shot was wide.
Canada had a massive opportunity when Dave Jameson received the ball on the stroke point but lost it before adjusting a shot. The same player was showed a yellow card soon after for hitting an opponent and the balance of play shifted immediately in favor of South Africa. The Canadians absorbed well the pressure and even created the most dangerous chance when Gabbar Singh ran the ball into the circle but Ranjeev Deol, alone in front of the goal, count not control the bouncing cross.
Finally, South Africa took advantage of their numeric superiority in the 30th minute when Wade Paton received the ball unmarked in the left of the circle and managed to slot it between the pads of Dave Carter in the Canadian goal to open the score. They nearly doubled their tally soon after but half-time was reached after this lone goal.
With Canada down again one player at the beginning of the second period, South Africa maintained their pressure. First Gareth Carr unleashed a shot that shaved the post, then Ian Haley did not miss the opportunity to increase the gap, pouncing on a penalty corner rebound. With the Canadian defense looking a tad disorganized, Justin Reid-Ross added a penalty-corner in the 46th minute to build a comfortable three goal lead.
With 2 green cards and 3 yellow ones, Canada spent most of the second period short of players and had slim chances to fill the gap with South Africa. Scott Tupper salvaged some pride with a penalty-corner in the 59th minute but it was too little too late and Gareth Carr promptly re-established the three-goal lead, also with a penalty-corner.
The Canadians currently sit in fourth spot in Pool B with only one game remaining against Argentina this Thursday. The top two teams in each pool qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Champions Challenge is an international field hockey tournament, played every two years, featuring the teams ranked seventh to twelfth in the world, the host nation, and the last place finisher of the elite-level Champions Trophy tournament.
