2008 Campeonato Panamericano Junior |  |
(5-8) Puerto Rico - Mexico : 1 - 3 The final placing in the 2008 Junior Pan Am Men's Hockey Tournament here in Trinidad and Tobago will be decided tomorrow at the National Hockey Centre (NHC) in Tacarigua, following Mexico's 3-1 triumph over Puerto Rico in beautiful weather in total contrast to Friday's offering , that causes this fixture to be postponed for today (Saturday). In the rescheduled affair, Fransisco Montoya Aguilar netted one goal in each half to lead his side to a comfortable 3-1 success over a fighting Puerto Rico outfit in wonderful weather for hockey. Aguilar hit the target in the 19th (field goal) and 48th (penalty corner). Eduardo Joyta Cabrera drained home a penalty corner in the 22nd minute to help put the Mexicans up by a 2-0 scoreline at the break. Ottius Santiago Feliciano replied for the Puerto Ricans with a field effort on the stroke of half-time. Mexico will now meet a gritty Barbados outfit, who upset host Trinidad and Tobago yesterday (Friday), for the fifth and sixth spot. That game was badly affected by the weather and was thwarted eight minutes after the opening exchanges and did not get going until two hours later. Puerto Rico will play T&T for the sixth and seven spots.The host nation have to settle for a mid-table position after finishing third-place in Pool A on the back of a defeat in a must-win game with arch rivals USA. Argentina no doubt will enjoy heavy favouritism to capture their ninth consecutive silverware against a dangerous looking Chilean outfit, which can not be totally overlooked this time around. The Chileans have finished as runners-up in the last two tournaments and once before in 1978, while never dropping outside of the top five in any campaign. In other statistics, a total of 228 goals have been scored from 30 games, including 133 field goals, 85 penalty corners and ten penalty strokes. Argentina's number player Leandro Tolini lead the goalscoring race with 17 items, which consist of 16 penalty corners. Fransisco Montoya Aguilar of Mexico and Chile's Jan Richter (13 penatly corner and one penalty stroke ) are tied for second place with 14 goals. Aguilar has a balance effort on his sheet of eight field items and a dozen penalty corners, while Barbados' Che Warner, who has the most field goals (ten) in the tournament, thus far, is next with 12. Warner other items are penalty stroke and penalty corner. Will Holt of the USA is just outside of the double-digit benchmark with nine, consisting of a pair of field goal and seven penalty corners.   | ||||||
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