There was a distinctly Pan American feel to the party at the end of the women’s Hockey Champions Trophy in London, England.
First, the USA put some unconvincing performances behind them to take the bronze medal in a display of defiant strength and courage against the world number three side Australia; and then Argentina wowed the crowds and the opposition – the Netherlands – with a virtuoso performance to take their seventh title.
The matches panned out very differently. For USA, it was a case of showing its now legendary ability to relentlessly work and turn things around, while the Argentina side took a 2-0 lead against the Dutch which, although the Netherlands clawed one goal back, the reigning champions never looked like conceding.
Speaking after the final, captain of Las Leonas, Carla Rebecchi, who also picked up Best Player and Top Scorer, said : “Today was very different to yesterday [when Argentina lost to Netherlands in the pool match] there is something inside us that make us play better in finals. We know that when we get on the pitch in the final we have to give a little bit more than in other matches. We have to celebrate this victory.”
For Rebecchi, lifting the trophy for the third consecutive time was made all the sweeter because it comes after a fight back from a knee injury sustained last year. With the Rio Olympics just around the corner, the captain and her team couldn’t have laid down the markers any more clearly.
Earlier in the day, the USA had looked to be heading for a thumping when Australia took a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game. However, a double from Katie Bam sent the game to shoot-out and goalkeeper Jackie Briggs proved herself a hero as she saved all five of the Australian team efforts. This is the first Champions Trophy medal since they won bronze in 1995. They came to the tournament as the lowest ranked team [7th] after they had won the second tier of the competition, the Champions Challenge, in 2014.
Players from both Pan American teams took time to talk about their performance in this tournament and their hopes for Rio.
“It wasn’t a perfect tournament by any means,” said USA’s Katelyn Falgowski after she had received her bronze medal, “but we go into these things believing anyone can be beaten. There is a grit about us, we never back down from the fight and that relentless pressure is hard on anyone.”
It is an attitude that the USA side have been both talking about and demonstrating ever since coach Craig Parnham took over following the 2012 Olympic Games. And this team has a very different feel to it from the USA team that contested the London 2012 Olympics. Falgowski looks back on that experience with a rueful smile: “We had high hopes going to London in 2012, coming out last meant we did a lot of soul searching.”
Melissa Gonzalez, another veteran from the 2012 campaign agrees: “I hate to admit it, “ she laughs, “but Craig Parnham has done a great job. He saw the potential in us. We didn’t hit what we needed to hit in 2012. We kinda just felt a pain that we draw on now. If we feel tired or in pain, we remember that feeling and that gives us grit to train harder, play harder.”
Both players talk about the creativity that Parnham and his team, including the Dutch international Janneke Schopman, encourage. “Craig and Jannie have given the reins to us to create our own culture,” said Falgowski. “So that is something we have arrived at ourselves – the united front, the work ethic – all comes out on the field.
“We bring that whole American dream to the table, but Jannie and Craig have brought a sense of purpose to our work ethic. We used to play the systems no matter what but now we have the thought to go with it. We have a harnessed creativity that perhaps wasn’t there before. One of Craig’s biggest things is for the coaching to happen on the field. He doesn’t want to coach from the side, he wants us to learn and change and take decisions. He has been building this for the last two years. He put early foundations down for that and we are bringing that to the game now.”
Emily Wold joined the squad after London 2012 but she says that memories of the debacle drive the whole team on. “The 2012 team was not as tight as we are now. We have created this united culture and the team chemistry can go a long way. You don’t want to let your teammates down. It’s a collective whole, not about individuals. But we are still honing that. At this tournament, we began on the back foot, but in the game against Great Britain [USA won 4-1], we just clicked. There was a connectivity right from the warm-up and that hadn’t happened in earlier games.”
It’s a point Falgowski agrees with. “We didn’t come out strong, but overall, this was huge for us. We got a bronze medal among the top teams in the world and going into Rio that feels good.”
For Argentina, the gold medal at the Champions Trophy will give a huge boost to a very young side. This adds to the HWL title they won in December. For both Delfina Merino and Carla Rebecchi, this was an important step in the side’s development, because there is one big difference between Argentina now and Argentina in 2012.
“Lucha was a great player, both on and off the field,” says Merino, as she ponders the gap that Luciana Aymar’s retirement has left. “She left a big space to fill. It is impossible for any player to replace Lucha, but we try to fix that as a team. It has been difficult to build the team back up, but we are building a different team, who will do it a different way.”
Rebecchi agrees: “Of course, in London 2012 we had Luciana in the team. She was the best, but we also had a squad that was older and we had quite a few players with injuries. We had Lucha but quite a lot of injuries; this time, no Lucha but also no injuries, I hope.”
With Argentina currently ranked second in the world and USA seventh, both teams face the spectre of the reigning Olympic Champions in Rio. Argentina might have beaten them on the last two occasions the team met, but the Netherlands are a team with their eye firmly on the biggest prize of all – a third consecutive Olympic gold. Merino thinks Argentina is as close to mounting a challenge as it has ever been. “We are now a team that is very similar to the Dutch. They work hard, they have great skills and tactics, they move the ball well, we do all those things.
“They create space with players so we have to be a bit cleverer when we defend our circle. But we have very open games with them. Sometimes it goes our way, such as today and the HWL Final, sometimes for them.
“We are a very young team, but that is good in many ways as it means we are able to keep growing and learning. We have great forwards who can make things happen, but sometimes we must remember to play more as a team and move the ball more effectively. We are okay, we are in a good way.”
One thing that Las Leonas and the rest of the Pan American region have benefited from has been the rise of USA. Finally, Argentina’s long domination of hockey in the region faces a challenge and that has been good for both sides.
“The rivalry between us and Argentina is good for both of us,” says Falgowski. “If you don’t show up, a team like that will expose you. When we play each other, it brings out the best in both sides. We have to take that intensity to other matches against other opposition. Argentina has challenged us to change our game.”
When they are not playing Argentina, the USA squad is hammering each other at training. Gonzalez and Wold laugh as they describe a training session. “It’s relentless,” says Wold. “We are unbelievably competitive with each other.”
“I’m finding this difficult to admit,” says Gonzalez, “but her team always beats mine.”
The Rio Olympics is the first games to be held in South America and both USA and Argentina will have large numbers of supporters. “When we walk out for our first game, there will be goosebumps and happy tears,” says Falgowski.
Merino smiles as she says: “There is nothing better than looking up into the stands and seeing family and friends there. My father and mother both played hockey and my grandmother played tennis until she was 80. She is 89 now and still comes to matches whenever she can. When you know the crowd is behind you, there is there is nothing like it.”
With the road to Rio getting ever shorter, the excitement across the continent will be hitting fever pitch as the opening match of the women’s competition will be a Pan-Am thriller – Argentina against USA.
