Davies rallies behind Under-21 side

Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S Under-21 hockey team coach Trish Davies feels the ongoing Junior World Cup will provide the team with the platform to grow. Davies was speaking after the team’s 0-10 defeat against USA in their opening Pool A match on Thursday in Santiago, Chile. It was the third match on the first day of the tournament which is set to end on December 4 with 16 countries competing.

Davies said the team can only learn and improve from playing such strong teams. “I am extremely happy with the team’s performance, workload and the effort that they put in. We must remember that we are ranked 58th in the world and USA are ranked sixth in the world.

“So, for our first time to take on a team of this calibre, we are very pleased and can only learn and grow from here,” Davies said. Davies was full of praises for her side and pointed out that it was always going to be tough for Zimbabwe considering the opposition they are up against in their pool.

The other teams are Korea and defending champions Netherlands.

“The girls took to the pitch today (Thursday) to play USA after a good warm-up and were excited to play this team ranked number six in the world.

“The girls were nervous at the start of the game as this is the first time that these girls have played at this level of international hockey.

“And the pace of the game was fast from the moment that whistle went to start the game. Once the Zim team settled down, their game improved hugely.

“The girls held their own for a long time in the first half before that first goal went in. The second half saw the team come out with such gusto, confidence and determination and it took the USA another 26 minutes to score another goal against us,” said Davies.

Zimbabwe are taking part for second appearance at the tournament after taking part for the first time in 2005.

Zimbabwe are the underdogs in their pool and were scheduled to take on Korea last night in another difficult assignment.

They conclude their pool matches with a date against Netherlands tomorrow.

While Zimbabwe lost to USA, the defending champions beat Korea 10-2.

With 16 countries fighting for honours at the tournament, only the top two from the four pools will proceed to the quarter-finals.

The finals are on December 4.

In their debut appearance, in 2005 Zimbabwe finished on position 16.