GROUP A HAS THEIR LEADER: ARGENTINA SMASHES VENEZUELA 12-0

Argentina book their tickets into the semifinals of the 2017 Pan American Cup after beating Venezuela 12-0.  On Thursday they will play against Trinidad & Tobago, second in Group B, for a place in the final game. The Olympic champions finished the qualifying round with perfect score: three games, three victories ,27 goals in favor and only 2 against.

Argentina is looking forward to win their third Pan American Cups championship, after winning 2004 and 2013 editions, both disputed in Canada.

Three goals by Agustín Mazzilli, two by Marc Ganly and Maico Casella, and the rest by Gonzalo Peillat, Joaquin Menini, Matías Paredes, Pedro Ibarra and Santiago Tarazona set the final result.

The result could have been even worse, but the good performance of the Venezuelan goalkeeper Junior Benítez who took several balls out of danger and stopped a penalty executed for Maico Cassella.

They were two quarters well marked. The first with a Venezuela providing good attacks, but that every attempt was always stopped by “Los Leones” giving “The Llaneros” a difficult time. Just after minute 2 'Gonzalo Peillat opened the score with a penalty corner and from there on, every Venezuelan attempt was answered with a goal from those led by Carlos Retegui.

Agustín Mazzilli scored at 13 'and repeated on 17', both goals proof of team work. In the second half, Argentina gave the opportunity to those who had no chance to play the first games against Canada and the United States. That gave Argentina another dynamism and the opportunity to show off, the younger ones.

From this moment onwards Argentina dodnt stopped scoring:

39 ' Joaquin Menini backhand, 44' Matias Paredes and Pedro Ibarra (45 ') with a cross-shot. With a 6-0 up, Venezuela re position their team to a more defensive strategy , but Argentina kept looking for spaces to attack.

In the fourth quarter, the goals of Casella (46 '; 53' penalty corner), Ganly (50 '), Agustín Mazzilli (59') and Santiago Tarazona (60 ') sealed the game.

At the end of the game Ganly said "We did what Retegui told us, we knew Venezuela was going to play a defensive game, we knew it because we played a friendly match before the tournament. Today we did our job and the youngest players earned some minutes on the field looking for a place in the main team”

The men's semifinals will be played on August 10 from 5:00 p.m. The continental champion will qualify for the FIH 2018 World Cup. The Pan American hockey tournament will continue tomorrow with the ladies tournament. Chile vs Uruguay (12:00) for Group A, Mexico Vs. Canada (17:00) followed by United States Vs. Brazil (19:00) in Group B