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2011 PANAM Games Draw: Results and Analysis

The Groups have been drawn for the Men’s and Women’s Team Handball Competition at the PANAM Games.  Both the Men’s and Women’s tournament formats start with round robin play in two groups of 4 teams.  The top two teams from each group advances to the semifinals while the bottom two teams play for 5th to 8th place.

The Gold Medal winners for the Men’s and Women’s tournament earn an automatic ticket to the 2012 Olympics in London.  The 2nd place and 3rd place men’s team earn berths in Olympic qualification tournaments Spring 2012.  The 2nd place and possibly the 3rd place women’s (TBD based on 2011 WC results) will win tournament berths as well.

Men’s Draw

Group A: Brazil, Chile, Canada, Venezuela
Group B: Argentina, Dominican Republic, Mexico, USA

Analysis:  Brazil and Argentina are clear favorites to win their groups and to eventually play each other in the Gold Medal Game.  The rest of the participants with the possible exception of Venezuela have realistic aspirations of making the semifinals.  Chile, which took 3rd place at the 2010 PATHF Championship last year and played respectably at the 2011 WC (their draw against Slovakia was a major surprise) is probably the next strongest team.  They will be challenged in Group A by Canada for the second slot.  At last summer’s PATHF Elite Championship, Chile easily defeated Canada 36-25 during Group play

In Group B, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the USA will battle it out for second place.  Based solely on recent PATHF competition results the Dominican Republic appears to be a slight favorite having finished 1st at the PATHF Div I Championship in 2009, 8th at the PATHF Elite Championship in 2010, and 1st at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in 2010.  Meanwhile, Mexico placed 4th at the Div 1 Championship in 2009 and 3rd at the Central American and Caribbean Championships.  The USA only returned to International competition last December, where they lost to Canada on aggregate goals scored in a home and home 2 game series.  This past spring at the 2nd Chance PANAM Games Qualification tournament the USA drew Uruguay and easily defeated Venezuela.

In terms of head to head competition, the Dominican Republic beat Mexico 35-32 as the 2009 Div championship and the USA has played neither team in several years.  One can extrapolate, on paper anyway, that the USA’s results against Canada and Uruguay (two teams that have played the Dominican Republic close in recent years) means that the USA and the Dominican Republic are roughly on the same level.

Women’s Draw

Group A: Brazil, Dominican Republic, USA, Uruguay
Group B: Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Chile

Analysis:  As with the men, Brazil and Argentina are clear favorites.  In Group A, the match between the Dominican Republic and Uruguay will likely decide who advances with Brazil into the semifinals.  And these two evenly matched teams know each other well having played to a draw during group play at both the 2009 and 2011 PATHF Championships (just this past June). The USA has only returned to international competition recently and struggled to beat an inexperienced Canadian side to secure the North American slot.  The USA Women are improving, but they are significant underdog to makes the semifinals.

In Group B, Chile (3rd place at the 2009 PATHF Championship) should be favored over Mexico and Puerto Rico.  This past June, at the 2011 PATHF Championship Chile defeated Mexico, 26-22 in Group Play while  Puerto Rico and Mexico may be evenly matched.  At last summer’s Central American and Caribbean Games, Mexico beat Puerto Rico in round robin play, but then Puerto Rico beat Mexico in the Semifinals 24-21.

 

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Brazil and Argentina meet yet again in a final; but Cuba causes the excitement

It happens quite often, when two semifinals are played one after the other, that great excitement is followed by an anticlimax.  This is what happened today in San Bernardo in the Panamerican Women’s Championship.  

Cuba had already offered a couple of great performances, but today they showed a tremendous determination and tenacity in the semifinal against the defending champions Argentina.  Early in the game, Argentina gained a 7-4 lead and a Cuban player was given a ‘red card’, so for the rest of the game they did not have more than eleven players available as compared with sixteen for Argentina.  But at least this is better than the seven they had in the first game of the event.  And their goalkeeper was putting up an absolutely spectacular performance.  So at half-time it was tied at 13-13 and the game continued to be close throughout the second half.   Cuba obtained a two-goal lead just before the end, but Argentina was able to tie the game at 28-28.

Double overtime followed.  Because after 5+5 minutes the score was 33-33.  And believe it or not, after an additional 5+5 minutes the scoreboard showed 38-38!  So on to a 7-meter shootout.  Here the more experienced Argentines finally managed to get the upper hand.  After the Cubans missed the third shot, hitting the crossbar, Argentina secured the win by scoring on both the fourth and the fifth throw.  In other words, the final result was 43-41.  Next after the Argentine team, perhaps the happiest ones were the Brazilian team.   They surely did not mind that their opponents in tomorrow’s final had to go through the drama of 80 minutes plus a shootout…   But the Cubans should be proud of their efforts.

In the second semifinal, Brazil had an easy time against Uruguay, just as expected.  The final result was 40-14!  When hosting an event and therefore having the right to choose a preliminary group, Brazil traditionally uses the tactic of taking the group with the stronger runner-up, in this case Cuba (or Chile) so that they can have an easier, safer semifinal…   So tomorrow we will have Brazil-Argentina in the final and Cuba-Uruguay in the bronze medal game.   All the four teams are already qualified for the World Championship.  In the 5th place game, Chile defeated the Dominican Republic by the score 28-22.  Mexico avoided last place by beating Venezuela 25-23, but both these teams will be relegated next time. 

Apropos my arguments yesterday about the tournament format:  I feel a bit sorry for Chile;  I think there are reasons to the believe that they are stronger than Uruguay and that they deserved to have a chance to be in the semifinal and, more important, in the World Championship.  But because of the format, they never got the chance to play against Uruguay.

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Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay join Brazil at the Women’s World Championship

Cuba a nice surprise but Brazil seems stronger

After the completion of today’s matches in the preliminary round of the PanAmerican Women’s Championship, the teams qualifying from PanAmerica to the World Championship are already determined.  Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay will have to return to the Sao Paulo are in December.

Because Brazil is the host in December, PanAmerica will have a total of four slots, as Brazil does not count against the normal quota of three.  Therefore, as nobody has seriously expected Brazil to fail to reach the semifinals, it was generally assumed that placing first or second in the preliminary groups and thus qualifying for the semifinals would be enough for the other teams.  In fact, when I am posting this article, just before Brazil plays its final group game against Chile, I am still technically ‘speculating’.  But my assumptions would fail to be correct only if Brazil were to lose against Chile by 23 goals or more.  Should that happen, then I would politely suggest that Interpol would need to be asked to investigate.

Brazil won their group games against Mexico and Cuba as clearly as one would have expected.  Perhaps some had thought that Chile would be in contention for the second place.  But as John Ryan reported two days ago, Cuba shocked the Chileans in the opening match.  Having only 7 players available, the Cubans complete ‘steamrolled’ the Chileans.  And the Cuban women outclassed Mexico with 35-16 today, after having lost against Brazil yesterday.  Should we start speculating about Cuba having a good chance against the defending champion Argentina in the semi-final tomorrow!?  (It would have an impact on the seeding for the World Championship).

In the other group, Argentina did not really start out as champions.  They fell behind early and just barely managed to take the lead against Uruguay before half-time.  The final result was 21-14.  Then came a comfortably win against Venezuela, and today’s seemingly easy win against the Dominican Republic may suggest that Argentina has found the form.  The excitement in this group was set up with a draw (20-20) between Uruguay and the Dominican Republic yesterday.  After Uruguay won 43-27 against Venezuela after a nervous opening in today’s first game, they then had to rely on Argentina to win by at least five or six goals against the Dominican Republic.  But it seems the suspense came to an end early, as Argentina had 14-6 at half-time and then went on to win by 33-16.

We will come back on Saturday with a summary of the final results, and also an overview of the draw for the World Championship which will be undertaken immediately afterwards.   But the way this event evolved so far makes it impossible for me to refrain from mentioning an idea that I have tried many times to convince the PanAmerican leaders about.  The tournament format is always the same, with two groups of four and then semifinals and medal games.  And the situation with qualifying for the World Championship is always the same, with either three or four teams qualifying.

In other words, the real drama is not so much around the final, or even about which teams will play in the final, because almost always in recent years it has been Argentina-Brazil.  So it seems that every effort should be made to ensure that the next best teams really get a chance to be in the semifinals, rather than having one of them eliminated after the preliminary round by placing third there.  We know that the strength of the teams is unpredictable from one event to the next.  So the seemingly better approach would be to have the group winners go directly to the final, and to have the ‘crossovers’ between second-placed against third-placed and vice versa.  Then we would feel sure that we knew who were really the deserving teams in the number three and number four positions.  But perhaps Cuba will be the exception that proves me wrong tomorrow!  Until Saturday…

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Women’s PATHF Championship Update: Iron Women Cubans demolish Chile with just 7 players

 

7 Iron Women from Cuba played all 60 minutes vs Chile

The 2011 Elite Women’s Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) Championships are underway in Brazil with the expected favorites having little trouble in the first round of matches.  Of particular note, though, was Cuba’s 40-21 thrashing of Chile with only 7 players.  It’s not clear as to why the Cubans decided to have their team travel in two separate groups, but it’s clear they sent the right 7 players first.  The “Iron Women 7” arrived in Brazil on Tuesday and apparently didn’t take long to find their rhythm as the game was never in doubt.  Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic also had relatively easy wins.

The top 3 teams (not counting Brazil- already qualified) will qualify for the World Championships to held later this December in Brazil.

Mundo Handball:  Cuba will play the first match of Pan American Championships with only 7 players: http://www.mundohandball.com/articulos/cuba-jugara-el-primer-partido-del-panam-solo-con-7-jugadoras

PATHF Twitter Feed:  https://twitter.com/#!/panamhandball (includes a live and taped video feed- Not the highest quality, but our compliments to PATHF for their efforts to provide fans with this option.)

PATHF Competition Page: http://www.panamhandball.org/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showResultsRank&layout=bydiv&p=28&Itemid=65

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PATHF Second Chance Tourney: USA – Uruguay draw 23-23

23-23: A draw vs Uruguay means goal differential will be key for the U.S. tonight against Guatemala

Game 2 of the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) 2nd chance tournament ended in a dramatic 23-23 draw.  According to a recap provided by USA Team Leader, Jim Thome, the match was a see-saw affair throughout with the largest lead being a 3 goal lead for the U.S.  The match was a physical affair with 15 two minute penalties being assessed (8 for Uruguay and 7 for the U.S.)

A further account of the match including the last minute is at the USA Federation site:  http://usateamhandball.org/news/2011/06/04/usa-ties-uruguay-in-second-chance-tournament/42643

Qualification for the PANAM games will now come down to goal differential in the final match between USA and Guatemala later today.  On Friday, Uruguay beat Guatemala, 20-12, so a 9 goal or more USA victory would put the USA at the top of the table.  A 7 goal or fewer win would see Uruguay qualify.  An 8 goal victory would revert to the next tie breaker, total goals scored, so the U.S. will be looking to score 21 or more goals in the match.

Guatemala cannot win the title, but as host, can play the spoiler.  For a young team playing in front of a home crowd against the big country to the North this will surely be a challenge they will relish.

Note:  I now plan to interview Mark Ortega after Sunday’s match.  Throw off is at 6:00 PM local (8:00 PM East Coast Time).  I will try to post the interview by 11:00 PM East Coast time.

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Argentina with huge victory over Sweden

Argentina defeated host Sweden 27-22 in what is probably the biggest victory ever for a Pan American team in World Championship history.  For more on this victory check out this Argentina Handball Blog.

Our correspondent in Sweden, Christer Ahl, concurs:

Argentina defeated Sweden, after having dominated the whole match; great goalkeeping, an aggressive and tenacious defense, good fastbreaks and confident shooting were the key factors;  Erwin Feuchtmann was the top scorer. Argentina celebrated as if they had already won the Championship, but in fact they still need one point against Chile to be sure of a place in the main round;  but if they get there, they will bring the 2 points from yesterday with them. The Swedish team and fans are shocked and disappointed;  they figure they lost their chances for a medal, but they admit the Argentina win was fully justified; they now desperately need to win aginst Poland on Thursday.

In an earlier game, Chile sensationally was ahead against Slovakia the whole game, often by 3-4 goals, but with ONE second to go, the Slovaks managed to equalize. However, while the immediate reaction of the Chileans was one of desperation, they soon begun to realize that the point they had gained was a historic one.

In a game in another group, Brazil came close to gaining their first point. They lost by only one goal against a strong Norwegian team, after they failed to use their chance to tie the game in the final minute.

All in all a fantastic day for PanAmerican handball. Now the fans (including my Swedish friends) will no longer doubt that handball exists on our continent as well!!!

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Puerto Rican referees held up under unusual pressure

Before we finalize the coverage of last week’s qualification matches between USA and Canada, there is one more aspect that must be captured and remembered: for these important games, the intention had been to bring up two referee couples, one from Brazil and one from Puerto Rico. They would then naturally handle one game each on each day. However, at a late stage, when no other options were available, the Brazilians had to back out, due to a serious health concern in the family of one of them. (We do hope that this situation is being handled with a satisfactory outcome!)

This meant that the Puerto Rican referees had to be put in the unusual situation of doing back-to-back games on both days. This is something that may seem easy and normal at the youth level, but it certainly is not the situation that one wants to put referees on a a high level and in crucial games. We did know that fitness would not be an issue for our Puerto Rican friends Enrique Perez and Jose Guzman, but their experience at the international level is quite limited, and games of this type can be very stressful. Nevertheless, Enrique and Jose graciously acceped this challenge.

Of course, this was without being able to anticipate the dramatic finishes on BOTH the men’s and the women’s side. Perhaps it would have been normal if ONE of the games would have ‘come down to the wire’ with a very close aggregate score in the final minutes. But who could have imagined that the first game, the women, would be decided on ‘away goals’ after a aggregate result of 44-44, and that then the men’s battle would finish with identical score for the home team in both games, so that overtime would be required.

I have rarely felt so sorry for a pair of referees as when the final seconds were ticking away and I could see the inevitability of at least 2×5 minutes overtime…. However, the referees took this extra challenge in strides and kept both themselves and the players under full control. In fact, this final one of their four games was quite probably their best performance. The atmosphere on the court remained very sportsmanlike until the very end. To a large extent, this was the effect of the ability of the referees to maintain concentration and a consistent line throughout the match.

We thank Enrique and Jose for their contributions to a great and exciting event, and we wish them much success in their endeavor to climb the career ladder as international referees!

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USA vs. Canada: Results and Video Replay

Women’s match: The first half saw both teams struggle to score and Canada led 9-8 at the break. In the 2nd half Team Canada pulled away from the U.S. to finish with a 23-18 victory.

Men’s match: The U.S. and Canada traded goals early on and the U.S. pulled away for an 11-9 lead. In the 2nd half outstanding team defense and goalie play by veteran Danny Caparelli led to several fast breaks and an 8 goal, 19-11 lead. Team Canada, however, switched to a marking defense on Gary Hines and the U.S. struggled to score in a set offense. In the end Canada was able to methodically whittle down the lead to an eventual 25-21 victory.

The same teams will play each other again in Montreal on Thursday. In order to advance the USA women will have the difficult task of beating the Canadian women by 6 goals (or 5 goals if they can score 24 or more). The USA men have the more manageable prospect of winning, drawing or losing to the Canadian by less than 4 goals (or 4 goals if they score 22 or more).

Women’s match videoMen’s match video

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USA vs Canada Team Handball: Live webstream

Today’s matches in Lake Placid between Canada and the USA are being broadcast at http://ustream.com

Women’s Match: 4:00 PM (U.S. East Coast Time)
Men’s Match: 6:30 PM (U.S. East Coast Time)

Video Feed

Remember that these matches are the first leg of a two leg series to determine the North American qualifier for the 2011 PANAM Games. The winner of the series will be the team with the best goal differential counting both games. In other words, every goal counts as you never know what might happen in the 2nd leg matches that will be played in Montreal on Thursday.

USA Team Handball: Preview with USA Rosters

USA vs. Canada Men: New look USA to challenge more experienced Canadian side

When the USA Men play Canada this Tuesday, it will be their first official match in nearly 4 years. Since losing to Canada 2 games to 1 in January 2007 and playing later that April in Chile for the 2nd Chance tournament, Team USA has not played an official International Game.

Meanwhile, Team Canada has been playing pretty regularly the past couple of years with mixed success. In Div 1 PATHF tournaments in 2007 and 2009 they posted winning records and advanced to the Elite Championships. In those Elite Championships, however, they’ve struggled a little bit, eking out 7th place finishes in both those events. Still, since these two sides met 4 years ago, the Canadians will have played 24 matches in PATHF competition while the USA has only played 2. While several players from both teams have played or are currently playing club ball in Europe, the Canadians will clearly have more experience playing together as a team.

[b]USA Men (Results since 2006)[/b]
Jun 06: PATHF Elite Championships: 4th out of 8 teams; 2-0-3 Record
Jan 07: PANAM Games North American Qualification: Lost to Canada in best of 3 series; 1-0-2 Record; Lost to Canada (19-20); Beat Canada (25-21); Lost to Canada (16-20)
Apr 07: PANAM Games 2nd Chance Qualification: 2nd of 3 teams; (1-0-1 Record; Lost to Chile (26-36); Beat Venezuela (23-20)
Jul 07 PANAM Games: Did not qualify for event
Jun 08 PATHF Elite Championships: Chose not to participate
Nov 09 PATHF Div 1 Championships: Chose not to participate
Jun 10 PATHF Elite Championships: Did not qualify for event

[b]Canada Men (Results since 2005)[/b]
Jan 05 World Championships: 23rd out of 24 Teams; 0-0-5 Record
Jun 06: PATHF Elite Championships: Did not participate due to the brand new PATHF qualification system which somehow precluded Canada (3rd place in 2004) from entry.
Jan 07: PANAM Games Qualification: Beat USA in 3 game series (2-1); Beat UAS (19-20); Lost to USA (25-21); Beat USA (16-20)
Jul 07: PANAM Games: 7th out of 8 teams; 1-0-4 Record
Nov 07: PATHF Div 1 Championship: 2nd out of 5 teams; 2-1-1 Record
Jun 08: PATHF Elite Championships: 7th out of 7 teams; 0-1-3 Record; Drew Greenland (20-20); Lost to Argentina (15-26); Lost to Chile (23-28); Lost to Uruguay (21-23)
Nov 09: PATHF Div 1 Championships: 2nd out of 7 teams; 3-1-1 Record; Beat Venezuela (25-18); Drew Colombia (21-21);Beat Mexico (30-26);Beat Puerto Rico (29-27); Lost to Dominican Republic (35-23)
Jun 10: PATHF Elite Championships: 7th out of 8 teams; 1-0-4 Record; Lost to Chile (25-36); Lost to Argentina (12-39); Lost to Uruguay (29-32); Lost to Greenland (36-38); Beat Dominican Republic (33-25)

THN (8 Jan 07) PANAM Games Qualifier Results (Canadian Men Qualify): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.229
THN (26 Dec 09): Interview with then Federation President Ward Hrabi: Canada – strong handball traditions and optimism about the future: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.911

USA vs. Canada Women: Both programs seek first Pan American win in 3.5 years

A further review of Pan American qualification matches reveals that the both the USA and Canada Women are in the midst of significant dry spells. Team Canada has not participated in a senior women’s event since the summer of 2007 when they finished 6th in both the PANAM Games and Pan American Elite Championships. In 2009 the Canadian Federation decided not to participate in the 2009 Pan American Championship as they felt they could not field a competitive team for the event. This relegated Canada to Div 1 status, but they chose not to field a team at the recent Div 1 Championship in Cuba.

Team USA has participated in Div 1 Championship events, but did not fare well in either the 2010 or 2008 Championships, losing all 7 matches that they played. There was, however, minimal preparation for either of these tournaments as the new Federation did not encourage participation in either event.

Prior to the 2007 hiatus, Canada had gotten the better of the USA, beating them 2 games to zero in 2007 PANAM Games qualification and in a pool play match at the 2007 PATHF Elite Championships. These results from 2007 probably don’t mean a whole lot as both teams are rebuilding and have several new players on their rosters. A series win and a trip to the PANAM Games, however, will be a welcome start to either program.

[b]Canada Women Results since Jan 2007[/b]
Jan 07: PANAM Games Qualification: Beat USA in best of 3 series; 2-0-0 Record; Beat USA (28-22); Beat USA (25-16)
Jun 07 PATHF Elite Championships: 6th out of 8 teams; 2-0-3 Record; Beat USA (31-29) in pool play
Jul 07 PANAM Games: 6th out of 8 teams; 1-0-4 Record
Jun 09 PATHF Elite Championships: Chose not to compete
Nov 10 Div 1 Championships: Chose not to compete

THN (21 Jun 09): Canada to not compete at Women’s PATHF Championship: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.780

[b]USA Women Results since Jan 2007[/b]
Jan 07: PANAM Games Qualification: Lost to Canada in best of 3 series; 0-0-2 Record; Lost to Canada (28-22); Lost to Canada (25-16)
Mar 07: PANAM Games 2nd Chance Qualification: 3rd out of 3 teams; 0-0-2 record; Lost to Mexico (29-20); Lost to Chile (31-30)
Jun 07: PATHF Elite Championships: 7th out of 8 teams; 1-1-3 Record
Jul 07: PANAM Games: Did not qualify for event
Nov 08: PATHF Div 1 Championships: 4th out of 4 teams; 0-0-5 Record; Lost to Chile (17-27) Lost to Puerto Rico (24-32); Lost to Mexico (31-23); Lost to Mexico (33-14); Lost to Puerto Rico (26-21)
Jun 09: PATHF Elite Championships: Did not qualify for event
Nov 10: Div 1 Championships: 3rd out of 3 teams; 0-2 Record; Lost to Cuba (40-20); Lost to Venezuela (32-21)

Weak PATHF procedures leads to waste of money

The basic competition structure in PanAmerica consists of PanAmerican Championships in an Elite Division with eight countries participating, below which there is a ‘Division 1’ for the remaining teams in each category, men, women, junior, youth etc. From each Elite Division event, the two lowest placed teams are demoted and next time replaced by the top two teams in the corresponding Division 1.

On paper, this seems like a sensible system, with a fair and predictable way of ensuring that the best teams at any given point in time are in the Elite Division, while at the same time all other teams get an opportunity to compete against teams of a similar level. However, for this system to function properly, there is pressure on the PanAmerican Team Handball Federation to be well organized and to enable especially the new and weaker countries in Division 1 to have their events planned and organized properly. Many of these countries have limited resources and/or limited experience in handling their involvement in international events. Moreover, especially in the junior and youth events, it is likely that only a small number of countries will be able to participate in each Division 1 event.

A couple of weeks ago, the Division 1 event for Junior Men was scheduled to take place in Venezuela. It is unclear how long before the start of the event that the place and date was actually finalized. In any case, apart from the organizers Venezuela, registrations for this event were received from Canada, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. For the Canadians this was a major sacrifice, as the Federation budget is so limited that essentially the young players personally have to absorb the cost of travel etc.

Accordingly, it must have been a bittersweet discovery when the Canadians, having already arrived in Venezuela, found that the other two teams would not show up. It has been suggested that the Dominicans were unable to obtain visas and that the Guatemalans found themselves without the necessary financial resources. What this meant was that Venezuela and Canada were automatically qualified for the next Elite Division, BUT that the expensive trip to Venezuela (for two meaningless games against the hosts) was totally unnecessary. If PATHF had received the notifications from the other two teams in time and then had notified the Canadians, the travel could have been avoided.

There are rumors that the final determination of dates and place for the event was made at a VERY late stage, and that this played a major role in the difficulties encountered by the two federations that withdrew. This would seem to add to the frustrations, as presumably also these teams feel that were suffering an injustice. Repeated attempts to get an official reaction from the PATHF have been met with silence.

What happened should be seen against the background of an unfortunate ‘tradition’: last minute decisions regarding place and date for events have not been unusual, a lack of clear deadlines for withdrawal (or disrespect for such dates, without subsequent punishment) has been common, and permission for teams to enter also after the deadline has been given. It may seem reasonable and pragmatic to be less bureaucratic, for the sake of encouraging maximum participation, but this tends to result in a lack of discipline to the detriment of teams that handle their affairs correctly and effectively. It would really be nice to see an improvement in decision-making, communications and clear procedures, for the benefit of everyone involved.

USA Women lose to Venezuela

Venezuela defeated the USA, 32-21 earlier today in Havana, Cuba. Venezuela joins Cuba in qualifiying for next year's Pan American Elite Women's Championship. Yamilé Riera, led Venezuela with 10 goals and Kathy Darling had 6 for Team USA

Univision.com: Venezuela defeats USA: http://feeds.univision.com/feeds/article/2010-11-04/venezuela-vence-a-eeuu-y?refPath=/noticias/estados-unidos/noticias/