Canada

The team blanked Uruguay in a Pan American Cup match to remain unbeaten.

BRIAN WHITWHAM, Free Press Sports Reporter

After a 7-0 shutout against Uruguay last night, the Canadian men's field hockey team heads into Friday's semifinals of the Pan American Cup undefeated. In a game that had all the excitement of Driving Miss Daisy, the Canadians controlled the entire match at TD Waterhouse Stadium.

As they did against Mexico on Sunday, the Canadians didn't allow a single shot on goal and the Uruguayans only rarely managed to force the play out of their zone.

But despite the result, the Canadians were unhappy with their performance.

"It was a tough game to go into," said team captain, Rob Short, since they knew Uruguay would be a weaker opponent. "I think the intensity was low."

But head coach Gene Muller said it didn't matter.

"I think we were totally below par tonight. I think we were a bit lazy and our concentration slipped."

Muller said the Canadians already knew they had clinched first place in the pool, which likely contributed to the lack of energy.

The team tried to keep the structure it has used throughout the tournament but in the second half, the passing and ball control became noticeably sloppier.

"We're a passing team," said defenceman Steve Davis. "And when we play a weaker team, we have guys who try to go in one-on-one because they want to score."

Goals for Canada came from Paul Wettlaufer, Ken Pereira, Michael Lee, Connor Grimes and Wayne Fernandes, who scored three times.

The Canadians face Chile on Friday. Chile clinched second place in the other pool with a 2-1 victory yesterday over the United States.

Friday's semifinal match begins at 3 p.m. The winner will go on to face the winner of a semifinal match between Trinidad and Tobago and the favoured Argentines.

Muller said the Chilean team will be a much tougher opponent and he plans to spend this week studying the team.

Davis said that no matter what, the Canadians will need to come out with a much stronger effort than they had last night.

"We can't play like that and beat Chile," he said. "And we definitely can't play like that and beat Argentina."

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