This is a double victory for Venezuela, as this morning 3-0 win against Uruguay left them as the unique leader of Pool B and secured their spot in the semifinals of the Pan American Challenge, carried out in Chiclayo, Peru. The tournament will finish with the great final on Sunday.
Venezuela earned their victory with players Cristian Vargas, Andy Adrian and Robert Escobar, who took advantage of the open spaces left by the Uruguayan defense, especially during the first quarter of the match, where they were able to score.
The Uruguayans could not find the formula to reach the attacking circle, and when they did, the rival sticks were there to avoid any conquest. Unlike what happened two days ago against Peru (where they could equalize although they were behind), this time the “Charruas” (Uruguayans) failed to generate spaces for the attacks of Gabriel López and Juan Manuel Canessa.
“We were quite diligent, we man marked in all sectors of the pitch, that’s the team brand. This is what made us score. Now we have to face Peru, to define whether we become second or first”, explained Vargas, who is the scorer of the tournament with nine goals.
At the end of the match, Canessa, said that a huge effort was put into the match but it was not enough. “Now, we’ll wait until the result of the match played by Venezuela and Peru, see how many goals are scored there, and know if we still can cruise to the podium, which is our goal.”
PERU SCORED EARLY
In the first match of the sports day, at the Campo San José in Chiclayo, Peru did not find any complications and earned an agreeable 11-0 victory over Ecuador, where their captain Fabrizio Corno, was applauded as he scored five of the goals for his team.
Encouraged by a group of fans, who came early to the venue, Peru pressed Ecuador on the ropes. Besides Corno, Sebastián Dennison, Antonio Piazza, Rodrigo Díaz, Christopher Rangel, Vicenzo de Martis and Rodrigo Vera sealed the victory, the first one of the tournament. Peru obtained 4 points and they settled in the second place.
“Winning was very important. Our performance was good. Tomorrow we’ll close this phase against Venezuela and we would like to finish it well, that’s, winning,” said Rodrigo Díaz after the match. For Miguel Moreno, Ecuadorian defense, the match gave them knowledge. “We are still in the process of building our team, each match is a lesson to learn, and this one hasn’t been an exception. We hope to carry on improving to be able to have a solid team”, he said.
POOL B WILL CLOSE TOMORROW
Tomorrow, Wednesday, Pool B will close with two key matches. Uruguay will meet Ecuador at 9 AM., while two hours later Peru and Venezuela will play. Peru in the event of a draw or a victory, qualifies for the semifinals. If Peru were defeated, and with an Uruguayan win, the teams will be ranked according to their goal difference to define the team going into the semifinals.
The Pan American Challenge started on October 3rd, and takes place at the Peruvian Hockey Federation pitch, Colegio San José in Chiclayo, 765 km north of Lima.
