DAY 3 REVIEW
Argentina topped Pool A with a heavy 17-0 over Barbados, Chile secured second place in Pool A with an exciting 2-1 win over Uruguay, USA secured Pool B with a 9-0 win over Mexico and Canada beat hosts TTO 4-0 to earn 2nd position in Pool B.
ARG vs BAR
The opening match of Day 3 pitted the top ranked team in the tournament against the lowest ranked team in the tournament. The high clouds in the sky promised an unforgiving heat and Argentina promised an unforgiving press. The match lived up to expectation with Argentina relentlessly attacking the Barbados team scoring 12 in the first half. The second half saw 15-year old Barbados GK make a series of spectacular saves to restrict Argentina’s prolific scoring to a further 5 goals. Maria Granatto scored 7 goals, Sofia Toccalino scored 3, Priscila Jardel Mateos scored 2, Julieta Jankunas scored 2, Maria Ortiz, Eugenia Trinchinetti and Magdalena Ladra each scored 1 in another dominant win for tournament favourites Argentina. The pick of the goals was Toccalino’s top circle rocket that went in off of the underside of the crossbar.
URU vs CHI
Match two saw an interesting battle for second place in Pool A between South American rivals Uruguay and Chile. The teams provided the most evenly contested match of the tournament with no one team dominating the play. Uruguay took the lead in the 4th minute through Sol Amadeo’s back post tap in. For long periods the action happened in the midfield with Chile the more attacking team. Eventually their persistence paid off when a rebound from a Denise Krimerman PC was slapped in by Antonia Morales. The match went into half evenly poised at 1-1. The second half was another tense affair with Chile pushing for the win and Uruguay content to absorb the pressure and counterattack quickly. Uruguay GK Sanchez made some good saves to keep the teams level and a draw looked the likely result. Then in the 67th minute Krimerman swept a powerful PC off Sanchez’s pads into the goal to give Chile the lead. Chile’s defence stood tall against a Uruguay PC and stayed strong to earn a hard fought 2-1 win and second place finish in Pool A.
USA vs MEX
Match three was USA looking to confirm their number 1 position in Pool B against winless Mexico. USA went on the offensive early pushing players forward in a now familiar high pressing game. They took the lead in as early as the 4th minute and kept scoring at regular intervals with an attack led skilfully by Erin Matson to go into the half with a 4-0 advantage. The second half repeated a similar pattern with the Americans scoring five more goals despite a strong fight from the Mexicans, led by their GK captain Montserrat Inguanzo. Gabrielle Major, Erin Matson and Ashley Hoffman each scored 2 goals and Margaux Paolino, Nicole Woods and Sophia Tornetta scored the one each for Pool B winners USA. They confirmed a quarterfinal match against Barbados who propped Pool A. Mexico play Pool A winners Argentina.
TTO vs CAN
The 4th and final match saw host nation TTO take on Canada with second place in Pool B at stake. Canada came out full of running, forcing their opponents into many turnovers and dictating the play. They then defended a TTO PC quite well before Shannon Pereira opened the scoring for Canada in the 9th minute. TTO continued to defend deep, unable to maintain possession. Lindsay Cole doubled Canada’s lead in the 26th minute and her team enjoyed a comfortable 2-0 lead at the halftime break. Canada continued to dominate in the second half and went up 3-0 when Ellis Cookson scored early on. TTO fought gamely, but were unable to unlock a disciplined and well organised Canadian defence. Alexis Dearmond then scored her team’s 4th from a PC and Canada closed out the game to earn 2nd place in the group. They will play Uruguay in the quarterfinal round while host TTO play Chile.
