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May 26, 2001 Quilmes, Argentina

In front of thousands of local spectators and a sold out crowd at the Quilmes National Stadium, the Koreans came from behind (down 0-2 in the first half) to tie the game late in the second half and then win the penalty shootout 4-3 in an exciting and fast paced final of the Women's U21 Junior World Cup against the Argentinian "Leonsitas".

In earlier action, the Kookaburas defeated Netherlands 2-0 in a hard fought game to take the bronze. The two other games saw an experienced Kiwi team defeat the South Africans 6-1 to take 5th place and to start the day, the Germans defeated England 5-1 to take 7th.

The bronze and gold medal games were a cut above the earlier two games of the day. The final match was everything the fans who had been following this tournament and participating teams expected to see.

The atmosphere at Quilmes was building up throughout the day as the local fans, many of them under 14, started to trickle into the stadium at about midday trying to get the best seats in the "plateas" (the uncovered section of the main stand) for the 5pm showdown. By 2pm the trickle of fans had become a steady stream as the park and side streets filled with cars and the public bus service (colectivo) RS 22 from the capital city became more frequent.

Quilmes is a small city about 30km from the center of the capital of Buenos Aires where the Obelisk marks the center of the city on Avenida 9 de Julio (9th of July Ave). Most of the teams stayed around the same block on Paraguay. The ride to Quilmes for the athletes was about an hour (or more depending on the street traffic) on the team buses. For the parents and family of the athletes that came down to support, getting to Quilmes was an adventure whether you took a taxi ($30-40) or the local bus ($1.20). For the locals that know how to get around Quilmes, the ride is about 30min by car taking the Autopista BsAs-La Plata (highway).

The much anticipated final was preceeded by a marching band that led to the presentation of the "Leonas", Argentina's senior women's team that finished with a silver in Sydney and recently came of a test series win avenging the olympic defeat to the Aussies. The band left the now packed stadium to a singing and dancing crowd followed by a cheer leading group dancing to some upbeat spanish music.

Even the premium seats ($50) were filled and the general admission section of the stands was standing room only. The three sides of fenced-off section around the field was filled with people 3-5 rows deep to the second fence surrounding the stadium, which also had another 3-5 rows of people for those that couldn't afford to pay the $2.50 general admission or simply could not get in to the stadium. Yet, when you looked out toward the road leading to the stadium entrance, people were still strolling down!

The stage was set for what was promising to be an entertaining match followed along by a very passionate local crowd. Even the teams in the stands that had not made it to the top 2 were anxiously awaiting the outcome. Would Argentina show it's stuff and defeat the Koreans who had upset them in the earlier classification round to get to the semi-finals? It would be a battle for the Koreans, considering that they would be playing against an emotional 12th player in the crowd.

As the crowd erupted to the start of play, Korea came out of the blocks attacking. It took Argentina a couple of long balls out to their high striker to get back some control. The Koreans however were quite content to move the ball around starting in the backfield and were beginning to look like a well composed team under control.

But that was short lived as the skilful Argentineans were quick on the pick up front when Maria Cecilia Del Carril intercepted a pass on the left wing in the seventh minute. She drove in 1-on-1 to feed Soledad Garcia and then receive the give-and-go in the 'D' to beat the Korean defense and goalkeeper and give the Argies a 1-0 lead early.

Minutes later, at the 11min marker, Del Carril again with a nice steal at around the 50yd line stole the ball on the left wing and with smooth skill and stickwork, beat the defenders and the goalie on a strong individual effort to put her country up 2-0. The crowd loved it! Horns and drums and fans dancing to the celebration music filled the stadium.
With a comfortable 2-0 lead, the Argentinean bench started to see some action.

The pace of the game did not change much as Korea was now forced to showcase some of their own individual skills turning the game into exciting back and forth action, Korea getting their chances but failing to find the target and when they were on the mark, the Argie goalie was there to make the save and the skilful defenders always available to clear or carry the ball out of the circle.

The crowd was getting a little anxious with the Korean attack, however, enough for one fan to sound a false half-time horn, but the officials were quick to get the players to finish out the remaining seconds.

With Argentina taking to the field early to start the second half, the Koreans took their time getting some game strategy from the bench on how to approach the second half.

Whatever advice they got worked well, or perhaps it was just the persistent Korean work ethic and discipline that still had them in the game late into the second half. But the Koreans were able to balance things out, still keeping their movement in the backfield and feeding through the little gap in the middle to their forwards and center mid who took the play to the Argies.

The pace of the game had not let up from the first half and nearing the 51min marker, the gap between the Korean forwards and defense was starting to show. But the matched skill of the Korean troop up front and their hard work, earned them a penalty corner and on the ensuing high deflection into goal, the ball was stopped on the goal line by a high Argentina stick for a penalty shot. Jung Hee Kim for Korea made the conversion after a false start disqualified her first attempt.

2-1 Argentina and the crowd was getting anxious cheering "vamo chicas!" trying to get their team to go for another goal for insurance.
The goal, on the other hand, rejuvenated the Korean attack despite having four defenders in the backfield to stop the two speedy Argentinean forwards. Minutes later, at the 58 min mark, Korea were awarded a penalty corner and on well executed fake and option left they found the mark beating the Argentinean goalie and defense at the open opposite corner with an off-the-ground shot that found the back board. 2-2 and the game which had never really slackened in pace picked up a notch as both teams tried to go for it.

With the final minute of stoppage time, Korea pressured the Argentinean defense but the goalie made some good saves to send the game into extra time. The Koreans came out attacking in overtime but a beautiful sliding tackle by an Argentina defender saved an open goal and Korea failed to capitalize.

Neither team could find the mark with the Koreans having the bulk of shots on net and finishing strong but the Argentinean defense and goalie stood firm to take the battle to a penalty shoot-out. The Korean forwards had to be commended for the amount of running they did when the broke into the Argentinean end. And if the gap in the middle of the field was a coaching strategy on Korea's part, it worked very well to keep the score low and work away at attacking the Argentina goal every chance they got.

After four strokes each, at 3-3, it was up to Argentina's Del Carril to convert but it was not to be as the Korean goalie came up with a huge stop to avenge Del Carril's two goals scored during regular play. With the score at 3-3, Korea's Na Young Kang had to score to give her country gold and she made no mistake.

They came from behind and fought a tough battle with some great hockey but what probably won it for them was their persistence and discipline which even the stand-up Argentinean crowd applauded them for because only hard work and discipline gave them a chance against the very skilful and fast Argentinean forwards. The Argentineans had to be proud of the way they played and the fans showed it as their team took their lap around the stadium. The game was a very evenly contested affair and this set of junior women had done their respective nations proud.

The final was followed by the closing and presentation ceremony which started off with an all women youth group of the "Ciudad de Quilmes" putting on a very nice dance performance for the players and the crowd. Well choreographed with a touch of the traditional Argentinean tango.

This followed the presentation ceremony where all the teams lined up behind the podium and Korea was presented with the Gold with the Korean players joining in chorus to their national anthem being played.

Following the silver and bronze medal presentations to Argentina and Australia respectively, the MVP trophy was awarded to Marine Russo, the captain of Argentina, the goal scoring trophy went to Yun Mi Kim for Korea and the best goalkeeper/defender went to the Argentinean goalie, Angela Cattaneo, who faced quite a few threatening shots from Korea.

A nice touch to the special awards was the bouquet presentation by the Korean ladies in full Korean attire. The ceremony closed to very nice fireworks display against the Buenos Aires night sky.

This ended a long day and a tough competition for the 15 teams that played the tournament. While the Koreans and the Argies continued to celebrate on the field, most of the other teams returned to their team buses for the police escorted trek back to the capital.

One could get the sense they were happy to be going home but also glad for the experience and friendships they had created that for some of them may last a few more years as they look forward to meeting again on future tours and tournaments and perhaps for those not yet playing on their countries senior teams, an opportunity to work towards that goal. But the exhaustion showed on their faces and hopefully a night off and some rest at home will set them on search for that next goal in their hockey careers.

For the Argentinean Hockey Federation, the final and closing ceremony was a fine conclusion for the tournament organizing committee president Alberto Costa who spearheaded the country's hosting of this tournament.

Despite comments about the location for the tournament, there can be no arguments that Argentina's philosophy of promoting hockey outside the city of Buenos Aires, in little towns like Quilmes, allows the country to put together some of the best teams in the world as witnessed by the final of this junior world cup.

As you get lost trying to find the hockey stadiums in Buenos Aires and Quilmes for that matter, you will come across lots of fields where the sport is being played, alive and well among the youth of the Province. A statement to this is the silver medal junior team that has 13 players from outside the province of Buenos Aires.

The execution may not be slick but this country is trying hard to promote the sport in this vast South American nation, and the people trying to do that should be applauded for their efforts.

One thing that cannot be taken away however and will certainly help this effort to promote hockey, is the passion with which the people of Argentina follow their "deportivos" (sports). Regardless of the fact that hockey is not the number 1 sport in the nation and world for that matter, the fans take a strong interest in supporting their national team, and they are well versed with the nuances of the game of hockey.

Knowing when to make noise to distract the opposing team during a penalty corner, or penalty shot even hackling the umpires. For someone taking all this in, in the little South American town of Quilmes separated from the capital by garbage disposal site, it was an eye-opening and rewarding experience.

Buena Suerte, Argentina in your quest to be the best!

Qb Mascarenhas

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