Chile 0-7 and 0-3, Argentina 1-8 and 0-8.
Interesting points.
The indoor season had little to do with our performances in my opinion. We had one or two technical issues for our first training, but by the second that was pretty much sorted out. Admittedly the longer distances to run (at pace) was a bit difficult at times, but generally the indoor guys were able to cope.
Travelling to Argentina is a tough whole day process. We left T&T Monday morning (around 11:00) and got into Buenos Aires at 5:00 am. The fitness of the younger guys left a lot to be desired and their lack of fitness put pressure on everyone. The last game we just ran out of gas and despite this played Argentina well for most of the game.
I don't know what the non indoor guys have been doing in our absence, but the basic skills from too many players (in particular the younger guys) was not up to international standard. We suffered often because these guys were unable to consistently stop easy balls or make a simple pass. In addition, the pace and physical nature of hockey at this level overwhelmed a couple of the younger guys. Our local game is just not competitive enough to prepare players for international hockey. It's a wonder that we are as competitive as we are and I wonder what happens when this group that is 29 and up retires what will happen.
The scheduling of the matches is not really all that strange. This was in place months ago. Remember Argentina did not participate in the Indoor WC and they have no reason to put their preparation on hold because of it. In the meantime we have an early opportunity to see where we are and what needs to be done. Although it is good to play quality matches the week before a major tournament that leaves little room for assessment and correction. The one drawback was the absence of the UK based players (except one), but with that said it augers well for us that we were able to play the way we did against Chile and Argentina without them. Chile were fortunate in both matches, since neither score accurately reflected the game. To be fair to them they took their opportunities and made us pay for our mistakes. Argentina is not 8 goals better than us (they still are clearly better though) and although I anticipate both teams will improve before the Pan Am Games I think we have the ability to raise our game much more than either team since they had their full complement of players.
Pictures to come soon. Because we were short handed it was difficult to get pictures from the match.
Team:
Reiza Hossein, Andrey Rocke (goal keepers), Kwan Browne, Solomon Eccles, Wayne Legerton, Damian Gordon, Kiel Murray, Nicholas Wren, Akim Toussaint, Dev Lum Kit, Alan Henderson (UK based), Mathew Tang Nian, Stefan Mouttet, Christopher Scipio and Simon Craig
absent: Darren Cowie (broken thumb), Dwain Quan Chan (unavailable), Dillet Gilkes and Ron Alexander: all based in London
