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World number ten South Africa made all the right noises possible on the opening day of the second men’s Hockey World League Round 2 tournament at the Deodoro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The South Africans, who overcame cash crunch issues going into the tournament, drubbed hosts Brazil 9-0.
Players of South Africa celebrate a goal during the match against Brazil as part of Hockey World League – Round 2 on Feb 27th, 2013.
Craig Haley drew first blood in the second minute before Austin Smith, who played for Ranchi Rhinos in the HIL, converted a penalty corner to double the lead in the 11th minute.
Taine Paton made it 3-0 with a fine field goal in the 25th minute before Lloyd Norris-Jones, who turned out for Delhi Waveriders in the HIL, getting his name on the scoresheet in the 32nd minute to help South Africa sit pretty with a 4-0 cushion.
Down 0-4, the 33rd ranked Brazilians needed to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd but the South Africans dominated the match and did not allow them any opportunity to mount a fightback.
Midfielder Clint Panther struck the team’s fifth goal in the 34th minute before going on to add another to his kitty, sounding the board in the final minute of first half action as South Africa went into lemon break with a 6-0 lead.
Ricky West made the most of a penalty corner in the 51st minute to rack up South Africa’s seventh goal.
Lloyd Norris-Jones added his second of the match, rattling the Brazilian cage in the 61st minute.
Clint Panther completed a superb hat-trick, finding the target three minutes from the final hooter as South Africa posted a clinical win.
In another match, world number ten Argentina thumped 34th ranked Trinidad and Tobago 9-2. Guillermo Schikendantz, Nicolas Vila and Gonzalo Peilat scored twice to steer Argentina to a facile win.
As many as seven Argentinean players sounded the board, who went into half-time with a 5-0 lead.
The South Americans added another four in the second stanza. Christopher Scipio and Atiba Whittington scored two late goals (57th and 66th minutes respectively) for Trinidad and Tobago as Argentina notched up a 9-2 victory.
Argentina are now placed second in the points table with three points and a goal difference of seven, behind South Africa.
In the day’s last match, 25th ranked Chile prevailed over 29th ranked United States by a solitary goal.
Unlike the first two games, this was a high-voltage match with both teams giving nothing away.
The end-to-end action was witnessed in the first stanza but goals eluded both teams.
Chile came out more fired up in the second half. They finally broke the logjam in the 50th minute through Fernando Fernandes, who scored from inside the six-yard box to put Chile ahead.
US had a great chance to restore parity in the 61st minute but midfielder Jonathan Ginolfi’s backhand shot crash into the post and went out.
