Canada

BRIAN WHITWHAM

In its best defensive effort so far, the Canadian men's field hockey team shut out Mexico 6-0 yesterday to remain undefeated in the Pan American Cup. The result wasn't too surprising given that Canada was favoured in the match at TD Waterhouse Stadium. But head coach Gene Muller said he tries to shift the emphasis away from the score in such games.

"The measure of success for us will not be in the score but it will be the extent to which we achieved what we set out to do," he said, adding that defence and structure were the main focus areas for Canada in the game.

Defensively, it's hard to see how the Canadians could have been better. For the first time in the tournament, they didn't allow a single shot on goal.

The structure also seemed to be effective. The Canadians had the ball in Mexico's end for the vast majority of the game but individual heroics never took over.

Instead, the team used a disciplined attack based on passing, which team captain Rob Short said can get difficult against less-skilled opponents.

"You can get in this run-and-gun structure where you just want to go in and score and score and score," he said. "We forced ourselves to stay in the structure we're using for these games."

Muller said keeping that level of discipline has been a team priority for the tournament.

"If you stand a chance against teams like Chile, the U.S.A. and Argentina, you need to play very structured."

Short and Muller said Canada needs to work on capitalizing on scoring opportunities.

"Something's going wrong if you only score six goals and you have the ball for most of the game," said Short.

But overall Muller said the win was a confidence builder for the Canadian players, who are still getting used to each other and believing more and more in their ability.

"I'm happy with the way we played," he said. "I think that every time we've played, there's been an improvement."

To their credit, the Mexicans never gave up, nearly scoring with three minutes left on a shot from Pool Moreno that took an odd bounce past goalie Jon Mac-Kinnon's glove side and trickled just outside the post.

Rob Short, Jeewanjot Bath, Dave Jameson, Wayne Fernandes and Connor Grimes, with two, scored for Canada.

The Canadians, with a 3-0 record, are in first place in Pool B. They have today to rest and prepare for tomorrow's 7 p.m. match against Uruguay.

The top two teams in Pool A and Pool B advance to the semifinals which begin on Friday at 3 p.m.

Rate This Article

Select Here  5 Stars  (Best Rating)   4 Stars   3 Stars   2 Stars   1 Star  (Worst Rating)

Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.