Californian city of San Diego hosts the second of three Round 2 events of the global Hockey World League. Eight teams (including four from the Americas) will play at the US Olympic Centre from Saturday February 28 to Sunday March 8 to keep alive their dream of going to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro by grabbing one of the three coveted spots and qualifying for the next round of the Hockey World League.
Like all World League events, the competition in San Diego features teams that were automatically given a bye due to their higher placement in the FIH World Rankings (Ireland and Canada) and sides that came through the earlier phase of the competition.
At 14th in the FIH World Rankings, Canada are the top ranked team and logically a strong contender for final honors. After the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last summer, many Canadians played in European clubs for a few months before the national squad reconvened in December to tour New Zealand, then Chile in January. Canada will be led by veterans Dave Jameson (206 Caps), Scott Tupper (196 Caps) and Mark Pearson (163 Caps), but can also count on a cohort of younger players such as Devohn Noronha Teixeira, fresh from impressive performances at the Indoor World Cup in Leipzig.
Ireland are not far behind Canada in the World Rankings (15th) but the two teams have rarely faced each other in official competition (last occurrence was at the 2006 World Cup Qualifier in China, with an Irish win 2-1). Ireland have the most experienced squad in the competition (average 26 years old and 96 international Caps), led by Ronan Gormley (192 Caps), Eugene Magee (188 Caps), captain John Jackson (159 Caps), goal-keeper David Harte (135 Caps) and four other players having logged more than 100 international matches. At the 2013 European Championship, they were able to maintain their spot in the elite tier with impressive results against the Netherlands (1-2), England (2-2) and Poland (4-2).
Russia is next in the World Rankings at 19th and qualified for this competition by claiming the World League R1 event in Sveti Ivan Zelina (Croatia) back in July. They have not played many official outdoor matches since then, but some players were involved in their recent successful Indoor World Cup in Leipzig (5th).Austria is ranked 22nd in the world and secured their berth in Round 2 by winning the World League R1 event in Lousada (Portugal). They prepared actively for the competition in San Diego by playing a series of matches in South Africa in January, followed by a 3-Nation tournament in Spain, then by the Indoor World Cup. Eight players from the outdoor squad were on the indoor team that reached the final in Leipzig, only narrowly losing to the Netherlands for the top honors. The Austrians have a young (average 22.6 years old) and talented team, and have the credentials to be amongst the front runners in this competition.
Chile are 25th in the World Rankings and need to redeem themselves after their below par finish at the last Pan American Cup (5th). They earned their ticket for San Diego by topping the World League R1 event in Guadalajara (Mexico) with three solid wins over Mexico, Brazil and Guatemala, and they have prepared the San Diego competition with a recent series of close matches against Canada in Santiago.
Host USA are only sixth in the ranking order at the start of this competition, but are determined to take advantage of the home turf to make their mark on this Round 2 event. They are in a rebuilding phase and will line-up the youngest squad in this competition (average 22.5 years old) with only five players having played more than 50 international matches. Led by Pat Harris, who will reach 100 Caps on opening day, they will hope to mark this milestone with a positive result against neighbours Canada.
Trinidad & Tobago arrive with a modest world ranking of 30th which seems at odds with some of their recent performances, such as a brilliant bronze medal at the latest Pan American Cup. They dominated the World League R1 event in Kingston (Jamaica) and only lost the final of the Central American and Caribbean Games in November to Cuba. They have a strong core of experienced players (five have more than 100 Caps) and will be led once again by the inspirational Kwan Browne, the oldest (37) and by far most experienced player in San Diego. Kwan will reach the exceptional milestone of 300 international Caps during this competition, and has certainly not lost his ability to make the difference in a match with his devastating runs.
Italy complete the line-up in this competition. Ranked 32nd in the world, they finished 2nd behind Austria at World League R1 event in Lousada (Portugal).
Ireland will play in Pool A and will face Austria, Chile and Italy. Canada will play in pool B with Russia, host USA and Trinidad & Tobago. After the round-robins, all teams will play quarter-finals, with the four winners advancing to the semi-finals.
Action starts on Saturday February 28 at the US Olympic Centre (2800 Olympic Parkway in Chula Vista) with four matches:
8:30 Russia v. Trinidad & Tobago
10:45 Canada v. USA
13:00 Ireland v. Chile
15:15 Austria v. Italy
In the first Round 2 event of the Hockey World League played in Singapore in January, teams from Malaysia, Poland and Japan earned their tickets for the World League semi-finals to be played in June. The last Round 2 event of the Hockey World League is scheduled from March 7 to March 15 in Cape Town, South Africa, and will feature Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, South Africa and Switzerland.
