Browne tricks Mexico in Pan Am hockey

LONDON: Trinidad and Tobago overturned Mexico 5-2, and the Netherlands Antilles upset Uruguay 4-0 in the morning period of the second men’s Pan American Hockey Cup yesterday. TT captain Kwandwane Browne led his team’s offence with a first-half beaver trick and Nicolas Wren added a fifth in between second-half goals for Mexico from Jorge Gomez and Aaron Cuevas. Jaap Overgauw scored a hat-trick to bring his tally of goals to six and Dolph Van Stapele also weighed in to give their side victory over the Uruguayans and lift them to second in Pool ”B” behind Canada on goal difference. Once again, the penalty corners decided the match with TT scoring three leaving Mexico to ponder their defence against them, as well as better execution on their own PCs.

“The team is growing in composure and we are playing better than we did against Canada,” TT’s Bertrand Duncan remarked. “Our new system is definitely working for us. This is the first major tournament for coach David Francios and I feel he’s made some good changes.” He added: “Most of the guys are disappointed that Cuba has not shown up for the tournament because they are always a tough game. We were looking forward to that match to determine our match fitness level and skill level.” TT got an early lead when Browne’s hard, low push caught goalkeeper Daniel Aguilar on the move in the 13th minute and, five minutes later, a drag flick on a penalty corner from the TT playmaker extended the lead. Browne caught Aguilar flat-footed with another drag flick off a penalty corner to give TT their  third goal in the 21st minutes and force Mexico to bring in a new goaltender Alejandro Vargas in the 26th minute.

Five minutes later, Browne scored again when he converted on a penalty corner to give TT a 4-0 lead at half-time. Mexico played with greater vigour in the second half and broke through when Gomez finished off a nice passing move with a 43rd minute strike. Wren, however, restored TT’s advantage when he batted in a ball off the crossbar on the counter-attack one minute later, only to see Cuevas score off the reverse stick in the 49th minute later. TT and Mexico both have three points, but the Caribbean side has played one match less than the Central Americans.