Argentina and Canada will be flying the flag for the Pan America Hockey Federation at the men’s Junior World Cup in Lucknow, India, and boy, do Los Leones now have a high standard to live up to!
Following Argentina women’s stunning victory at the women’s Junior World Cup, pressure is on the men to follow suit. If Argentina men were to win a medal at this competition, it would be the first time since 2005 they have stood on the podium – on that occasion, also a gold medal.
For 12th ranked Canada, anything higher than an eighth place finish would be their best finish at a Junior World Cup. At the last edition, in 2013, Canada finished 16th, and they definitely aspire to a higher finish this time around.
Argentina come to Lucknow as the team ranked second in the world. In their pool they face Australia, Austria and Korea. Looking at pool A, you would expect Australia and Argentina to progress through to the quarter-finals, but this is a World Cup where anything can happen. Austria are very much an unknown quantity, although in coach Cedric D’Sousa they have a wily campaigner and many of their team has experience of senior hockey, having recently been part of the all conquering Hockey World League Round One squad.
Korea are ranked 11th in the world and, again, they are a team who can cause upsets on their day. Seo Woohyeon and seventeen-year-old goalkeeper Kim Jaehan were both members of the Korea squad that competed in the Hero Hockey Champions Trophy in London earlier this year, an experience which could prove vital.
On paper at least, Australia are the side that could stand between Argentina and a top place finish in the pool. Australia last won this event in 1997 but are among the favourites to lift the trophy this year. The Burras arrive in Lucknow full of confidence following their title success at the recent Sultan of Johor Cup 2016 in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The champions of Oceania progressed through that event undefeated, with senior internationals Tom Craig and Blake Govers – an Olympian at Rio 2016 – both scoring six times. Josh Beltz is another player with senior international experience, adding extra quality as the team chase their second Junior World Cup title.
Moving the focus to Pool D, Canada’s chances of making the top eight are less clear cut. The Red Caribou finished 16th in the 2013 edition of the Junior World Cup and coach, Inderpal Sehmbi, will be aiming for a much higher finish this time around. With their highest ever finish an eighth place in 1982, Canada will be hoping to reflect the upward trend shown by the senior men’s team in the past few seasons.
Canada has the distinction of fielding the youngest player in the competition, in the form of 16-year-old Rowan Childs, but there is also experience in the squad as team captain Brandon Pereira, and Balraj Panesar were both part of the squad that contested the 2013 Junior World Cup.
It is certainly conceivable that the Red Caribou could make the top eight. They come to the competition ranked three places higher than South Africa in the world rankings, so would hope to pick up points there, while England men are a team that can blow hot or cold.
It is the host nation India who will pose the biggest challenge, not just to the Pool D members but to other title contenders. A passionate home crowd, highly confident after being crowned champions of Asia, India are one of the favourites for the title. The team is packed full of high quality individuals, including senior internationals Harmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya, captain Harjeet Singh and Ajit Panday. With more than 60 senior international appearances, 21-year-old striker Mandeep is the most experienced player of the squad, having represented his country at numerous major events including the Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014 and the Hero Hockey Champions Trophy 2016.
For one member of the North American team, Jamie Wallace, the quality that will see the Red Caribou’s causing problems to the other team is one that runs through the Canadian psyche, namely “grit”.
In an interview with the Vancouver Courier, Wallace outlined the team’s values: “Canadian hockey is played a lot like Canadian ice hockey: physical, dogged and direct. We consider ourselves to be a gritty team. We certainly pride ourselves on being one of the hardest-working teams.”
“Three core values define their mindset”, he added. “Heart is trying to give it our all and not be out-worked. Trust is believing in our teammates, the coaches and the game plan. And, professionalism is making sure we train well, eat well and do everything a professional athlete should be doing. Those are the things our team has been priding ourselves on for the past 16 months.”
One player who knows just how much hard work it takes to be a champion is a former star of the Junior World Cup and currently one of the best known and most respected players of his generation, Olympic gold medallist, Gonzalo Peillat.
The Argentinian superstar took a few moments to explain how his experiences at the Junior World Cup helped shape him into the player he is now.
Gonzalo’s meteoric rise began in 2012, when he was just 20. Back then, and this was only four years ago, Argentina were ranked ninth in the world and finished 10th at the Olympics. Gonzalo was a bright spot in an otherwise poor showing, but those Games proved to be a catalyst for an Argentine reinvention, which came to its conclusion with a gold medal four years later in Rio.
Once the 2012 Olympics were over, Gonzalo returned to duties with the U21 side in preparation for the 2013 Junior World Cup in New Delhi. He says: “My memories of the Junior World Cup in India are really good and it was a great experience. The team had started training three years before the tournament and it was seriously intense. We trained four times per week. I wasn’t always able to be at the training because I was training with the senior team for the Olympics 2012.
“Despite that, when I could train with the juniors, it was always a good quality of training. It was divided up by time spent on the hockey field but also running and gym sessions.”
Gonzalo explains that the junior side played a lot of practice games against the Los Leones because the only junior competition really available was the Pan American Cup and the Malaysia Cup, an event held four month prior to the Junior World Cup.
That is one reason he cites for the team’s disappointing 11th place finish in Delhi. “I think we acknowledge that we didn’t have enough test matches or international games in the build-up to the competition, so we were a team without experience in this kind of tournament.”
Gonzalo himself was already an experienced senior player by the time the 2013 Junior World Cup came around. While his debut for the junior team was the 2012 Pan American Cup in Mexico, he had already represented his country in South Africa in 2011 at the Champions Challenge, where Argentina finished fourth. He recalls his first match as a full international was against Japan. Five years later and he has 120 international caps to his name and was top scorer at both the 2014 World Cup, where Argentina won bronze, and at the 2016 Olympics. His tally of 11 goals at Rio included a hat-trick in the semi-finals and one goal in the final.
Looking back to his debut match, Gonzalo says: “I can remember in my first senior match everything was just too fast. My heart rate probably was 200 and I was super excited. I don’t think it was a surprise but I was so happy to play against players that I had only watched on the TV or via live streaming. It was a dream for me and it took me a couple of games to adapt to the new system, new team, new opponents and faster games.”
For the players lining up for their first match at the Junior World Cup, Gonzalo has this advice: “You will be feeling extremely proud and excited. Listen to the anthem and take it all in, you have worked incredibly hard to be there and you have sacrificed a lot to become an international hockey player.”
