In the men’s match on Day 4 of the 2011 Pan Am Challenge, Brazil played Uruguay. Off the whistle, Brazil came out on attack. Brazil scored first off a field goal by Augusto DE PAULA FELIPE. Paraguay worked hard to generate attack, but spent most of the half on defense. For much of the half, Brazil continued their attacking pressure. In the 26^th minute, Brazil’s Yuri VAN DER HEIJDEN scored a penalty stroke to give Brazil a two goal lead. Eventually, DE PAULA FELIPE was able to break through Paraguay’s defense again and made the score 3-0 to go into halftime.

Brazil maintained their offensive pressure in the second half. While Paraguay also continued to play strong defense, Brazil scored two quick goals around the 40^th minute by Ricardo DE SOUSA and another by DE PAULA FELIPE. Nonetheless, Paraguay did not let down and tried to go on attack, but could not maintain the ball long enough to develop offensive plays. VAN DER HEIJDEN made it a 6-0 score in the 53th minute; and six minutes later, DE PAULA FELIPE had his fourth and final goal of the match to give Brazil a seven goal lead over Paraguay. With ten minutes remaining in the match Brazil was able to capitalize off many more scoring opportunities; while Paraguay was not. Thus, with goals from Andres PATROCINIO COUTO, Patrick VAN DER HEIJDEN, and two more from Yuri VAN DER HEIJDEN the final score was Brazil 11 and Paraguay nill.

MATCH QUOTES

Brazil’s Coach Claudio ROCHA

On the match…

Our first half was not as good as the second half. I thought we played awful in the first half and we played as individuals, which I do not think is a god thing. After the first half,  I thought it was an easy game. They knew they were not playing well and of their potential; and that they had a lack of concentration in the first half. In the second half, we ran more and changed Yuri’s [VAN DER HEIJDEN] position and there was more space to play. We played a good game in the second half. They [the players] did it…they changed the game.

On the Brazil’s improvement…

We have new faces. Yuri was not with us when we played Cuba [earlier this year]. But also I think the more time to practice and the more pitch time playing. We have been training many hours per day and the more time playing together, sleeping together, eating, and dreaming hockey together the better. Even during break times, we are talking about hockey. We can substitute a lot now too.

Brazil’s Yuri VAN DER HEIJDEN

On the match…

The first half was harder and we weren’t fast enough. The second half we found each other and that made it much easier.

On hockey in Brazil…

The gap between players has significantly decreased and so I think the level of hockey in Brazil has gotten higher.