The 9th FIH Women’s Hockey Junior World Cup springs into life on April 1, four months after it was originally scheduled. The delayed start was due to Covid, and the global pandemic continues to play havoc with the sporting calendar as six teams have been forced to withdraw because of localized restrictions. Those not taking part includes Oceania teams Australia and New Zealand; European teams Belgium and Spain and the Asian giants China and Japan.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia will also not be participating; at time of writing, generous and heart-warming actions by the Polish and Dutch Hockey Federations means the Ukrainian athletes have had the opportunity to leave the conflict zone and are able to participate. There will be many tears of emotion shed around the stadium if the team in yellow and blue are able to take their place on the pitch for the tournament’s opening game against Ireland.
Despite the absences and the postponement, the event looks set to be both historic and exciting. It is historic because this is the first time the African continent has hosted a World Cup and the weight of expectation was admitted by South Africa’s long serving goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande, who said that, as hosts, South Africa Hockey Federation and its U21 team were aware they were representing the whole continent in both the organization of the event and how the team performed.
There are several teams also making an historic first appearance. Ireland, Malaysia and our own Uruguay will all be making Junior World Cup debuts, and this is another reason the event in Potchefstroom will be so exciting.
From a Pan American perspective, the continent is well represented. Joining Uruguay are Argentina, Canada and USA.
Canada and USA find themselves drawn together in Pool A, along with one of the pre-tournament favourites, the Netherlands as well as Zimbabwe.
Although it was many months ago now, Canada should be entering the event with confidence levels high after they won the Junior Pan Am Championship for the first time in their history. Nine players of the team that won the Junior Pan Am Cup will be making the trip to South Africa. Head Coach Jenn Beagan is delighted at the prospect of both the junior and senior Canada teams competing in World Cups this year, saying: ‘This is an exciting time and I have no doubt the athletes will rise to the occasion’.
There is extra incentive for Canada to seek a highly placed finish at this event: the team found itself stranded in South Africa when the pandemic struck in December 2021. The squad had travelled early to acclimatize before the World Cup got underway and then found themselves thousands of miles from home with no hockey tournament to play. The challenges this posed to the team and the national association in terms of getting the athletes home safely will surely be a huge incentive to squeeze every drop out of the experience this time around.
USA have been very much in a rebuilding stage so it will be interesting to see how the players respond to this challenge. USA Head Coach Tracey Paul will be looking for the experience of players such as Hope Rose and Charlotte de Vries to lead her team through to the knock-out stages. Rose was voted the Most Valuable Player at the Junior Pan Am Cup and de Vries was top scorer at the same event. Leah Crouse, Alia Marshall and Ashley Sessa are also players with senior hockey experiences, so the USA side are justified in going to South Africa high on confidence.
USA’s highest ever finish in their eight previous appearances was seventh in 2013. Canada’s last appearance was in 2013, when they finished 14th. Like USA, the Canadian team’s previous best was a seventh place in 1989, at home in Ottawa.
It was inconceivable that the title holders might not qualify and defend their title but this was nearly the case with Argentina. The young Lionesses finished behind Canada, USA and Uruguay at the Junior Pan Am Championship and so failed to qualify for the Junior World Cup. The withdrawal of a number of teams opened up a space and there is little doubt that the Argentinians will be seeking to defend their title. Las Leoncitas has a good record in the event. As well as their 2016 title, they also won gold in 1993, silver in 2001, 2009 and 2013 and bronze in 1997.
With the Argentina senior squad currently flying high at the top of the FIH Pro League, some of the U21 squad have been part of the senior set up and Head Coach Fernando Ferrera will be looking to these players to utilize that experience. Expect Valentina Raposo, Celina de Santo, Daiana Pacheco and captain Victoria Miranda to all play key roles within a team more than ready to defend the title.
With a new National Hockey Centre, complete with magnificent new turf, Uruguay are pushing hard to establish themselves at the top table of world hockey. This will be a first appearance for Uruguay at a tournament of this status and the South American team will be keen to strut their style. At the Pan Am Championships, Uruguay showed they could defend with real strength and they will have been focused in on developing their goal scoring abilities since that event in January.
Talking ahead of the competition, Agustina Martinez of Uruguay said: ‘It is the first time we are going to a World Cup. We qualified in August, which was historic, so for us this was very emotional. It was like a dream that came true. I think that we didn’t even dare to think about it but once we made it, it was very moving, also because we could live this moment with our families and see the emotions this provoked among people in Uruguay’.
Martinez’s teammate Pilar Oliveras, speaking in an earlier interview, said: ‘If we look at the results [at the Junior Pan Am Cup], we didn’t score many goals but the most important thing was that the whole team played defensively very well. And I don’t mean just in defence, but across the whole team. Each line worked hard to defend and then, when we won the ball, we could start to build an attack. But first, we needed to gain the ball and keep possession’.
‘Now we need to make sure we can score the goals too. We are sure that our defence is pretty good but we need to know how to finish an attacking move off.’
Oliveras gave that interview back in September 2021. The team will have been working hard on their attacking skills ever since, so there is every hope that Uruguay’s upward trajectory continues in Potchefstroom.
Argentina and Uruguay are drawn together in Pool C, with Korea and Austria. The European team was a last-minute entry following the withdrawal of Russia and, like Uruguay, are debutants at this level. Korea are an unknown quantity, but there is every hope that, in this pool, both PAHF representatives could finish in the top half of the knock-out stages.
Pool A is likely to be dominated by the Netherlands leaving Canada, USA and Zimbabwe to fight for the second place, but, as any coach will tell you, when it comes to World Cup hockey, anything is possible.
