Argentinian Gonzalo Peillat finished at the top of the scoring table at the World League Final in Raipur, India. Both Pan American teams finished on par with their entry rankings: 5th for Argentina and 8th for Canada.
Peillat literally destroyed the opposition in the scoring race, finishing with 8 goals (all penalty-corners), twice as many as the runners-up: Jeremy Hayward (Australia), Simon Mantell (Great Britain) and Mink van der Weerden (Netherlands).
Peillat scored twice in four of the five matches played by the South Americans (India, Netherlands and Germany in pool play, and Great Britain for 5th place). Unfortunately, he was kept at bay in the critical quarter-final match against Belgium and Argentina could not advance to the semi-finals, as they could logically pretend after their strong second place finish in Pool B.
The format with quarter-finals allowed teams with a poor start of competition to advance to the last four (India finished dead last in their pool but were on the podium on final day), while teams with a strong start were relegated to the consolation games (Great Britain won Pool A handsomely but ultimately finished only 6th).
In their quarter-final against Belgium, Pedro Ibarra’s team was down 0-2 at half-time. A Belgian defensive error was immediately punished by Agustin Mazzilli, eliminating the goalkeeper with a perfectly placed ball into the corner of the goal. However, it proved to be only a consolation, with Belgium’s defensive line holding firm to see out the victory.
In the classification match for 5th-6th, Argentina redeemed themselves with a 4-2 win over Great Britain. They needed just 17 minutes to establish a 3-0 lead, with team captain Pedro Ibarra scoring two penalty corners either side of a trademark set piece from Gonzalo Peillat. Great Britain pulled a goal back in the fourth quarter before Peillat put the contest out of reach with his second goal of the match (and eighth of the tournament) with six minutes remaining.
Canada, the other Pan American team in this elite competition, produced their best performance of the competition against the Netherlands in quarter-final. The European Champions, World League defending Champions and winner of Pool B were given a stern test by the Canadian team. The “Red Caribous” made life difficult for the European giants, who eventually emerged victorious with a meagre 2-0 scoreline. The Canadians had numerous chances of their own, but could not find a way past the Netherlands goalkeeper.
“The Canadians did very well out there, and I am very happy with the win because they had some good opportunities and our goalie had to be amazing today”, said Netherlands star Seve van As. “They are a tough team and they deserve to be here at the World League Final!”
The classification match for 7th-8th saw Canada surprisingly facing the Olympic champions Germany, who had a poor competition in Raipur. The European cruised to an 8-3 win over Canada. However Canadian Gordon Johnstone pulled a goal back just before half time; then
Matthew Guest and Canada captain Scott Tupper found the target after half time to make the score 5-3, although any thoughts of a comeback were ended thanks to a quick trio of German goals in the final minutes.
The World League Final in Raipur proved to be an excellent learning experience for Canada, with the rare opportunity to play in a week against the top four countries in the World Rankings (Australia, Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain).
Quarter-finals:
Netherlands vs. Canada: 2-0
Australia vs. Germany: 4-1
Great Britain vs. India: 1-2
Argentina vs. Belgium: 1-2
Semi-finals:
Australia vs. Netherlands: 3-2
India vs. Belgium: 0-1
Classification:
Final: Australia vs. Belgium: 2-1
3rd-4th: Netherlands vs. India: 5-5 (shoot-out 2-3)
5th-6th: GBR vs. ARG: 2-4
7th-8th: GER vs. CAN: 8-3
Final Standings:
1) Australia
2) Belgium
3) India
4) Netherlands
5) Argentina
6) Great Britain
7) Germany
8) Canada
For full results, check the FIH web site.
