100 GAMES x ATTARD

T.

Or more commonly known as Teneal Attard. One of the great girls behind the “Girls Night In” cancer fundraiser, played her 100th International in the Green and Gold during the current World Cup Qualifiers.

The 5 to 0 win over Chile was a great way for T to celebrate such a great milestone in a career, especially one that had been hit with serious set back of injury.

From all of us in Australia and indeed Gryphon, we’d like to congratulate Teneal for the achievement.

WCQ THREE x FINAL x ARGENTINA COMEBACK

DAY SIX :: THE FINAL

The comeback kids have done it again. Argentina, 0-2 down at the half time break, have hit 4 second half goals to win the Third and final WCQ and claim their spot at the 2010 World Cup in India.

With Belgium netting twice in the first half, one through Gryphon’s Jeffrey Thys, it looked like they had set up a strong lead that would have Argentina with it all to do. Argentina slotted their first early in the 2nd half to make it 1-2, however Belgium quickly regained a gap and scoreboard pressure with a 48th minute field goal to extend their lead to 1-3. With 17 minutes remaining in the match, Argentina started the fight back that would leave the Belgians asking “what-if”, netting in the 53rd (2-3), 57th (3-3) and the winner coming in the 62nd minute (4-3) from Gryphon’s own Mario Almada. The Argentines then held nerve to play the remaining 8 minutes out as the Quilmes stadium burst into celebration as the home-town hero’s secured their 2010 Qualification. Congratulations Argentina!!!

5th v 6th: Chile – USA 1:2 (0:0)
48min USA Pat HARRIS (PC)
64min USA Will HOLT (PC)
70min CHI Alfredo THIERMANN (PC)

3rd v 4th: Ireland – Czech Republic 1:1 (1:0) 2:1 AET
25min IRL David AMES (FG)
53min CZE Stepan BERNATEK (FG)
77min IRL Timothy COCKRAM (PC) – Golden Goal

The Final: Argentina – Belgium 4:3 (0:2)
14min BEL Cedric CHARLIER (FG)
25min BEL Jeffrey THYS (FG)
39min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PC)
48min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (FG)
53min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PS)
57min ARG Lucas VILA (FG)
62min ARG Mario ALMADA (FG

SO, That now wraps up the Men’s qualifiers, with all 12 teams now known for next years World Cup ::

WC 2010 – Those that have qualified

India (Host)

Canada (Champion of the 3rd Men’s Pan American Cup)

Korea (Champion of the 8th Men’s Asia Cup)

South Africa (Champion of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2009)

Australia (Champion of the 6th Men’s Oceania Cup)

England (Champion of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Germany (Silver medalist of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Netherlands (Bronze medalist of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Spain (Fourth ranked team of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Pakistan (Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 1)

New Zealand (Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 2)

Argentina (Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 3)

WCQ THREE x QUILMES x DAY 5 x FINAL SHOWDOWN

DAY FIVE

So its set in stone, Argentina are to play Belgium in the final of this WCQ for the 12th and last spot in the 2010 World Cup. Argentina enter the game in form having beaten Ireland 4-0, while Belgium stumbled to draw with USA 3-3. In the other match of the day Czech Rep won over Chile 2-1. So we wait for the much anticipated final where winner takes all. Both these teams are evenly matched and it will prove to be a titanic battle.

For us it puts some of our top Gryphon athletes head to head in Briels, Thys and Almada…Stay tuned for an exciting finish and good luck to both teams…

Czech Republic – Chile 2:1 (2:0)
10min CZE Martin BABICKY (FG)
17min CZE Jakub KYNDL (FG)
63min CHI Alexis BERZCELY (FG)

Belgium – USA 3:3 (1:0)
5min BEL Cedric CHARLIER (FG)
44min USA Pat HARRIS (PC)
52min BEL Cedric CHARLIER (PC)
59min USA Gurpal KUNDI (FG)
60min BEL Tom BOON (FG)
70min USA Jarred MARTIN (FG)

Ireland – Argentina 0:4 (0:3)
12min ARG Mario ALMADA (FG)
19min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PC)
24min ARG Lucas CAMMARERI (PC)
49min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PS)

Standings DAY 5: ARG 13pts, BEL 11pts, IRE 7pts, CZECH 7pts, CHILE 3pts, USA 1pt

Photos: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

WCQ THREE x QUILMES x DAY 4 VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

DAY 4 (Thursday 19th November)

Thursdays fixtures at the WCQ in Quilmes witnessed 1v2, 2v4 and 5v6 based off current round standings. The results highlight just how even this qualifier is between close rivals. The match of the round was the top billing of Belgium against home favourites Argentina, in perhaps a prelude to the expected final on Sunday. There is one more round left on Saturday, and Ireland must win to give themselves any chance of making the final. Belgium and Argentina need only a draw from their last round match to both advance, failing that if Ireland wins it will go to goal difference to decide the top two.

USA – Chile 1:2 (0:1)
24min CHI Martin RODRIGUEZ (FG)
55min CHI Thomas KANNEGIESSER (PC)
69min USA Arjan REYATT (FG)

Czech Republic v Ireland 2:2 (0:2)
12min IRL John JERMYN (PS)
22min IRL John JERMYN (PC)
54min CZE Martin BABICKY (FG)
66min CZE Martin BABICKY (FG)

Argentina – Belgium 2:2 (0:0)
48min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PC)
55min ARG Tomas ARGENTO (FG)
57min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (PC)
64min BEL Max LUYCX (PC)

Standings DAY 3: BEL 10pts,  ARG 10pts, IRE 7pts, CZECH 4pt, CHILE 3pt, USA 0pt

BLOG 2: WCQ THREE BEGINS

Hey again!

So the World Cup Qualifier in Quilmes finally started! The preparation for a tournament is always long and hard. You have training with the national team, fitness sessions, meetings, practice games, selection and all of the guys have their club training and matches as well! So you can imagine everyone is very happy when the tournament finally starts and we can just think about our goal and the upcoming matches!

On Saturday we played the first match against Chile. We were off to a bad start with Chile scoring the first goal after 2 minutes! Lucky for us we got in to the game and we lead 2-1 at half time. Chile was a better team then we thought so we had to stay focused. In the second half we made 2 more goals. So after 70 minutes of hockey we won 4-1. Always good to win the first game of the tournament but we didn’t play our best hockey. So there is room for improvement during the tournament! After the match we got all in the ice baths and drank our ‘nice’ protein shake for a better recuperation! We had to play Czech Republic the next day.

Argentina (the host) played the first game against Czech Republic. We saw the match on TV in our hotel room! It’s amazing how many sports channels there are in Argentina. I think you can watch soccer any time of the day! ? We saw Argentina struggling with Czech Republic but the host got the well-fought victory, 1-0!

In this tournament there is no room for error because there are only 2 places in the final and only 1 ticket to the World Cup in India next year, so we couldn’t underestimate our opponents! We played good hockey against the Czech and we won easily 9-0. It was a good feeling because nobody remembered when Belgium won 9-0 in an international match in the past!

After the game we went for dinner in the city. It’s always nice to eat outside of the hotel, we can see the city a little bit and normally the food is better! The staff, with a lot of Aussies (Adam Commens, Collin Batch, John Bessel) enjoyed there cold beers while the players had to be happy with water and maybe a Coke! ******* staff!!

Tomorrow we play Ireland. They also won their first 2 games. They won 6-1 vs USA in the first match and 4-1 vs Chile in the second. It’s the first good test for us to see where we are at in the tournament. We are excited and eager to play them! It will be a hard match!

For me it’s time to go to bed! Hope you guys are cheering for us!

Cheers, Thomas

Photo: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

WCQ THREE x QUILMES x DAY 3

DAY THREE

Day Three at the WCQ in Quilmes has the Czech Republic recording their 1st win of the tournament, Belgium performing strongly over Ireland and Argentina recording a blow-out against Chile which saw 10 goals scored for the match. We now have a clear leader board with both Belgium and Argentina 3 points clear of Ireland, and 6 points clear of the Czech Republic.

USA – Czech Republic 1:3 (0:2)
12min CZE Dan PITERAK (FG)
38min CZE Stepan BERNATEK (PC)
42min CZE Tomas JAHODA (FG)
65min USA Jon GINOLFI (FG)

Ireland – Belgium 0:3 (0:2)

8min BEL Jerome TRUYENS (FG)

10min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (FG)

36min BEL Benjamin van HOVE (FG)

Chile – Argentina 3:7 (0:3)

9min ARG P. IBARRA (PS)
11min ARG P.IBARRA (PC)
31min ARG P.IBARRA (PC)
36min ARG P.IBARRA (PS)
39min CHI J. ZARHI (PC)
53min ARG M.ALMADA (FG)
55min ARG M.VILA (PC)
56min CHI M.RODRIGUEZ (PC)
62min CHI M.RODRIGUEZ (FG)
65′ARG P.IBARRA (PC)

Standings DAY 3: BEL 9pts,  ARG 9pts, IRE 6pts, CZECH 3pt, CHILE 0pt, USA 0pt

Photo: Daniel Carson | dcimages.org

LUCAS SEVESTRE – WCQ DIARY

Bonjour…

It’s been a long few weeks building up to the World Qualifiers which have now passed. I was disciplined enough to keep a running diary of the progress. Read on for some great insight to what we go through for these tournaments.

Monday 26/10/2009:

Soon after a big disillusion with my club (SGHC) in EHL, it was the time to meet the French team at Lille for one week of final preparation and one of World Cup Qualify.

During this first week, we played two games against the last European Champion, England, to close our preparation. We lost clearly the first game, because of our lack of commitment and concentration, but we got a draw, 2-2, and performed well.

My Gryphon Taboo Magnum and I were ready for the WCQ, such as the team, motivate and eager to start this tournament for which we have trained for months.

Saturday 31/10:

For our first game against Poland, there was crowd. We were waiting for a though game and counted on our good press, a very good ball movement, an play the free hits inside 22m as quick as possible to disturb them.  Despite of our game’s control, we didn’t do better than a draw, 2-2. The feeling that the team got was frustration, because this game was brought to our, efficiency at the goal failed us whereas our opponent managed. First lesson of this tournament that we should not forget.

Sunday 01/31:

On Sunday, under a rain tempest, we won 3-0 against Italia. It was very difficult to build the game as we wanted, but thanks to their Man to man defense on the midfield, we manage to hit long on our strikers. We had success in the organization of the game and their very good defense troubled us in the circle.

Tuesday 03/11:

Pakistan, few players of the Team already had played this team, but Coach Scott Goodheart, had well informed us about them. What they really wanted, was going forward quickly thanks to their traps and leads. On their press they were splitting the field to defend on only one side and hamper our transfers.  I and my Taboo Magnum, had for mission to stop the distribution by Wassem. I really had to work hard on and off the ball, on our attack and our defense. I think, we achieved our best game of the WCQ, but once more, we couldn’t compete with their Penalty Corner, and their goal’s efficiency at the goal.

At the end, 3 PC goals, and 1 Fieldgoal, result 4-2 for Pakistan. In spite of the fact that we lost, we were satisfied of our game’s level and we still believed in qualification in order to meet again Pakistan in final. Noted that it was the 150^th cap for Captain Mathieu Durchon known as “Mamoot”

Thursday 05/11:

We played our fourth game against a strong Russia team, who worked very hard. Their forwards stretched us the entire match, so on their counter-attack, they hit long and were quickly in our circle. The 3 points are the only thing to remember about our match, because we failed so much in the collective organization, and in the efficiency. There was a lot of space behind their Centre midfield, so it allowed me to be free with the ball and have more time to organize. The fact that it was a physical team didn’t trouble me, because I’m used to play as they did.   ?

Saturday 07/11:

This match against Japan sounded as a Semi-final, because victory by a difference of 2 goals was imperative to get the Final against Pakistan qualified since the fourth day.

The Japanese were waiting very low on the pitch, compact in the middle of the field and proceeded mainly in counter-attack. Faced with their though and very aggressive defense on the ball holder, we get 8 PC, but no one succeeded. We controlled the game, and we had a lot of opportunity to make the difference in the circle but all their players run at 100% on their bascule and came back quicker than we thought., Defeat 3-2.

The disappointment is immense, and emotion took over on every player. Since months we were preparing, since months we were thinking about this qualification… We should have beaten this team, but we lost against ourselves, unable to take the time to organize, and accumulating skills errors.

Our dream flew away, but we wanted to have a good finish on the tournament, for the spectators, for those who believed in us and to prove ourselves that we was worth better…

Sunday 08/11:

So, for the third place’s game, we played again Poland. Our determination and our craving made the difference during the first half. The game objectives were well applied. The ball movement was very good, we were aggressive on our press, and the decisions in the attacking circle were good. As proof of our good start, we opened the score at the 4min. We controlled the tempo of the game and until half-time, we were rewarded, 3-1. During the break, Scott warned us about the beginning of the second half. Despite of his warning, Poland put two goals in the 5 first min because of a lack of attention.  Little by little, we lost the control on the game, and Polish became more hazardous. We never will manage to change the course of the game. Defeat 5-4.

As too many time in this tournament, the team has missed of experience, and maturity. We have made too many skills errors on our traps, passes, tackles… We didn’t manage to deal our good and bad periods during the game. We haven’t been good enough in the circle and on the Penalty corner.

But during the heavy hockey year, a group formed, a group who really want to succeed in the World Hockey. The spirit in the team was very good, we did a lot of activities together as bowling, soccer and “Boules” tournaments because for us it’s an important part of the team’s growth.  I think we learned a lot from our mistakes, we’ll all keep training to improve because we know that we have a long way to run together to achieve beautiful things…

WCQ THREE x QUILMES x DAY 2

DAY TWO – Sunday 15th Nov

So today was a day of one-sided results. Ireland fought back from a one goal deficit to dominate Chile, Belgium schooled the Czech Republic and Argentina destroyed USA. After two days of competition the top three ranked teams are showing their quality, with Ireland looking like the dark horse in the pack. With three round matches to go, the question is can USA, Chile and Czech Republic put any pressure on this qualification tournament’s front-runners…

Chile – Ireland 1:4 (1:0)

16min CHI Thomas KANNEGIESSER (FG)

37min IRL Alan SOTHERN (FG)

61min IRL John JERMYN (FG)

67min IRL Alan SOTHERN (PC)

69min IRL Alan SOTHERN (PC)

Belgium – Czech Republic 9:0 (3:0)

7min BEL Jerome TRUYENS (FG)

12min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (FG)

25min BEL Jerome TRUYENS (FG)

40min BEL Max LUYCX (FG)

49min BEL Tom BOON (PC)

62min BEL Jeffrey THYS (FG)

64min BEL Loic VANDEWEGHE (FG)

69min BEL Tom BOON (FG)

70min BEL Tom BOON (FG)

USA – Argentina 1:6 (0:4)

9min ARG Lucas VILA (PC)

13min ARG Lucas REY (FG)

16min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PC)

33min ARG Lucas ROSSI (FG)

48min USA Patrick HARRIS (FG)

53min ARG Manuel BRUNET (FG)

68min ARG Mario ALMADA (FG)

Standings DAY 2: BEL 6pts, IRE 6pts, ARG 6pts, CHILE 0pts, USA 0pts, CZECH 0pt

WCQ TWO x NEW ZEALAND VICTORIOUS

THE FINALS – DAY SIX

It’s Finals Day and that means the 2nd last spot in the WC 2010 will be decided. First up in todays matches: Austria took on Wales in a game that had five 2nd half goals.

In a less than predicted match up on Day Six China faced  Scotland in a game where Scotland would consider themselves a chance. China entered this match coming off two straight defeats at the hands of New Zealand and Malaysia.

In the Final of this Tournament, New Zealand and Malaysia played for the 11th place at the Hero Honda FIH World Cup in New Delhi, February 2010. A lot at stake, one match, one last chance…Enough said, here’s the breakdown…

Austria v Wales 3:2 (0:0)
WAL 39mn Benjamin CROXALL (FG) 0:1
WAL 41mn Matthew RUXTON (FG) 0:2
AUT 42mn Georg JELINEK (FG) 1:2
AUT 54mn Georg JELINEK (FG) 2:2
AUT 61mn Michael KORPER (FG) 3:2

China v Scotland 2:2 (3-5 aps) (1:2)
SCO 18mn Stephen DICK (FG) 0:1
CHN 20mn Yixian LIU (PC) 1:1
SCO 24mn Kenneth BAIN (FG) 1:2
CHN 38mn Fenghui LU (PC) 2:2

New Zealand v Malaysia 2:1 (0:1)
MAS 18mn Muhammad RAHIM (PC) 0:1
NZL 57mn Andy HAYWARD (PC) 1:1
NZL 60mn Andy HAYWARD (PC) 2:1

So it’s confirmed. New Zealand now join the other ten teams that have already qualified for the 2010 World Cup. The last spot will be filled by one of the teams competing in the WCQ 3 that is currently underway in Quilmes, Argentina, where Belgium and the hosts are the arguable favourites.

WC 2010 – Those that have qualified to date:

India (Host)

Canada (Champion of the 3rd Men’s Pan American Cup)

Korea (Champion of the 8th Men’s Asia Cup)

South Africa (Champion of the Africa Cup of Nations, 2009)

Australia (Champion of the 6th Men’s Oceania Cup)

England (Champion of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Germany (Silver medalist of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Netherlands (Bronze medalist of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Spain (Fourth ranked team of the 12th Men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship)

Pakistan (Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 1)

New Zealand (Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 2)

1 vacancy left:

Winner of the Men’s World Cup Qualification Tournament – No. 3 – Currently underway in Quilmes, Argentina

WCQ THREE x QUILMES x DAY 1

On the opening day at the BDO Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Quilmes, Belgium defeated Chile, Ireland imposed themselves on the US team, and Argentina stumbled to victory over the Czech Republic. Gryphon’s Thomas Briels and  Jeffrey Thys started off their campaigns netting one in Belgium’s first outing. Predictions are for an Argentinian – Belgium Final on Day 6, however their is a lot of hockey between now and then. In that Argentina game, the difference was the sole goal coming from Gryphon’s Mario ALMADA.

Belgium go into the event as the highest ranked team of the six participants, currently the world number 9. Argentina are close behind in 10th place, while there is a signifcant gap to the next team: Ireland are ranked 18th, USA 19th, the Czech 25th, and Chile 27th.

DAY ONE – Monday 15th Nov

Belgium – Chile 4:1 (2:1)
2min CHI Andres FUENZALIDA (FG)
15min BEL Max LUYCX (FG)
19min BEL Thomas BRIELS (FG)
57min BEL Jeffrey THYS (FG)
60min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (PC)

Ireland – USA 6:1 (5:0)
4min IRL Michael WATT (FG)
7min IRL Michael WATT (FG)
13min IRL Michael WATT (FG)
18min IRL Stephen BUTLER (PC)
34min IRL Stephen BUTLER (FG)
53min USA Nate COOLIDGE (FG)
55min IRL Mitch DARLING (FG)

Argentina – Czech Republic 1:0 (1:0)
10min ARG Mario ALMADA (FG)

Standings DAY 1: IRE 3pts, BEL 3pts, ARG 3pts, CZECH 0pts, CHILE 0pts, USA 0pts

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