CHILE BEAT CANADA, REACH SEMIFINALS

In an exciting match, Chile defeated Canada to reach the semifinals of the eighth men's Junior Pan-American Championship at the Antonio Maceo stadium in Santiago de Las Vegas, 25 kilometres South of La Havana, on Tuesday.

This tournament will qualify the top three for the World Championship to take place from June 29 to July 10 in Rotterdam, Holland.

Chile will have to wait until Wednesday to know their rival in semifinals as it will depend on the results of the matches that México, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago will play that day.

On Tuesday, Chile produced a slightly domination from the start, while Canada tried to counter-attack. However, the South Americans created the best attacks, getting three penalty corners to reach their rivals circle with some danger.

But more than 20 minutes passed to allow Chile to reflect their dominance in the scoreboard. Then, the South Americans opened the score - in the 24th minute - from a penalty corner by Alexis Berczely.

But, Canada took control of play in the last minutes of the first half to equalize through Richard Hildreth, five minutes from half-time.

Canada surprised Chile, only two minutes from the re-start, as they took a 2-1 lead through their captain David Jameson, but a minute later, Berczely again capitalized on a penalty corner, to net the 2-2 for the South Americans.

The second half was even, with tighten marking and a good defensive performance from both sides.

Step by step, Chile started to close the North American ways to reach their area with danger, but Canadians opposed a solid back row prevented their rivals' goals.

Nevertheless, Chile definitively took control of play, in the last 10 minutes of the match, when they gained a 3-2 lead, in the 61st minute, through a penalty corner by Berczely's lethal shot.

From then on, the Chilean kept the pace until the final scoring twice, with goals by Cristián Zarhi, in the 66th minute, and Sebastián Kapsch, two minutes before the final whistle, after a wonderful solo play.

Canada: Mackey; Hobkirk, Roberts, A. Wright, Joseph; Hildreth, Tupper, Ford; Pearson, Jameson and P. Wright. Also played: Smyhte, H. Virdi and D'Almeida. Coach: Giles Wheathley.

Chile: Hanríquez; Yuraszeck, Almarza, Thiermann, Labra; J. Zarhi, Valenzuela, Villaseca; Berczely, Kannegiesser and Kapsch. Also played: Gajardo, C. Zarhi and Fernández. Coach: Diego Amoroso.

Umpires: Albert Marcano (Trinidad & Tobago) and Michiel Bruning (Holland).

Booking - Green: 39m, Berczely (Ch).

UNITED STATES ALSO QUALIFY

The United States also reached a semifinal berth by defeating Cuba 2-1 in one the most expected match of the tournament.

United States surprised Cuba with an early goal, in the fourth minute, after a fast rush by Daniel Jordan who netted the 1-0 lead for the North Americans.

From then on, Cuba's dominance was complete overwhelming the US throughout the pitch.

The hosts produced continue scoring chances, but showed lack of accuracy in front of goal, specially through penalty corners as they failed to capitalized on the six they achieved. However, from one of them they got a penalty stroke when a Cuban player was blocked inside the circle when he was ready to hit. Thus, they equalized through Orlando Quirola, a minute before half-time.

The second half was similar to the first as the US took an early lead, six minutes from the restart, by captain Patrick Harris from a penalty corner.

As in the first half, Cuba reacted persigna hard the US, though this time, the visitors could take advantage of the counter-attack, getting some penalty corners, well defended by the local side.

The Cuban played the last minutes of the match with two men less, when Walberto Olivares and Yasmani Gutiérrez were shown the yellow card due to rough play and an intentional foul.

But this time it was different, than in the first half, as the North Americans controlled well Cuban attacks to take the victory an a place in the last four.

Cuba: Hernández; Gutiérrez, Caballero, Aguilera, González; Barzaga, Olivares, Risquet; Makenci, Quirola and Herrera. Also played: Dieguez and Castillo. Coach: Yumai Oliva.

United States : Saez; S. Harris, Sherburne, Mahan, Freundlich; P. Harris, Ginolfi, Farooqui; R. Jordan, D. Jordan and Cunningham. Also played: Grenwall, Pile, Schlosser and Scally. Coach: Nicholas Conway.

Umpires: Thomas Gantz (Chile) and Germán Montes de Oca (Argentina).

Booking - Yellow card: 32m, R. Jordan (EE.UU); 45m, Mahan (EE.UU); 60m, Olivares (C); 65m, Gutiérrez (C). Green: 6m, González (C); 13m, Barzaga (C).

ARGENTINA FINISH UNBEATEN AND FIRST IN GROUP A

With four goals by Pedro Ibarra (in the fifth, ninth, 12th and 38th minutes); four from Tomás Alonso (in the 33rd, 41st, 51st and 68th); two through Facundo Callioni (19th and 48th); two by Juan Manuel Saladino (10th and 57th) and the rest netting by Lucas Vila (in the 21st minute) and Mariano Tisera, in the 30th, Argentina obtained a new victory, this time, against Barbados by 14-1 in the last qualifying match of the Group A in the eighth Men's Pan-American Junior Championship at the Antonio Maceo stadium in Santiago de Las Vegas, 25 kilometres South of La Habana, on Tuesday.

This tournament will qualify three teams for the World Junior Championship to be held from June 29 to July 10 in Rotterdam, Holland.

With this result, Argentina finished unbeaten at the top of Group A, but will have to wait until Wednesday to know their rivals in the semifinals.

Argentina had no problems to control their rivals from the very beginning, thanks to their ground domination, their skill and successive penetrations in Barbados' circle.

The South Americans got 10 penalty corners in the first half, from which they netted four goals, through a powerful dragged shot by Ibarra and the other through Alonso.

In spite of the eight goals scored during the first 35 minutes, the Argentines missed many scoring chances.

Argentina slowed their rhythm after half-time, while Barbados did not give up reaching the South American circle with some danger. However, the Argentine back row and keeper Mariano Ghezzi stopped them well.

But it's necessary to pointing out Barbados' fighting spirit. Then, in the 57th minute, a shot by Ron Phillips hit Argentina's right post, and three minutes later, Barbados closed the gap from a penalty stroke by Jamar Small.

Argentina: Ghezzi; L. Argento, Rey, González, Begner; Brunet, Ibarra, Rossi; Saladino, T. Argento and Callioni. Also played: Alonso, Vila, Tisera, López and Ortega. Coach: Pablo Lombi.

Barbados: Francis; Small, Puckerin, Payne, Henry; Davis, Forde, Hutson, Jules; Harding and Jordan. Also played: Phillips, Griffith, Rice, Warner y D'Aguiar. Coach: Peter Chase.

Umpires: Gus Soteriades (United States) and Marc Knule (France).