Lionesses End Of Year Safari.
The Confederacion Argentina de Hockey, (CAH) , has announced that the national squad, Las Leonas ( The Lionesses) are on their world travels again, this time to Bloemfontein, the Republic of South Africa.
This safari will see the current world champions play five test games in between the 9th and 19th December and the return to the international stage of several members of the world cup winning squad. The players have been selected for this latest test series following their recent roman holiday, winning all their friendlies against Italy and includes a number of debutants following a handful of retirements after Rosario. Twenty players in all will make the flight to South Africa.
Coach Carlos “Chapa” Retegui resumes operations at the helm , building on the experiences from the World Cup and looking to raise the bar to the rest of the World with a demanding regime of training and match play prior to the 2011 Champions Trophy in Amsterdam and the all important Pan Am games. Newly appointed fitness trainer , Alejandro Labonia does not make the trip due to prior commitments . Just two weeks after the friendly in Italy, the squad will leave for Africa to play a new competitive series outside the country.
In addition to their top keepers Belen Succi and Aladro Laura, seven other Las Leonas world cup winners will join them in international action against South Africa , Noel Barrionuevo, Mariela Scarone, Macarena Rodríguez, Rosaire Luchetti, Daniela Sruoga, Silvina D'Elia and Giselle Kanevsky. The squad does not include seven times FIH world player of the year Luciana Aymar who is still on a sabbatical break from the game.
In addition, nine other players who participated in the five victories against Italy will be considered again by the national coaching staff for the series in Bloemfontein. These are Carla Dupuy, Natalia Del Frari, Marcela Casale, Maria Josefina Sruoga, Ana López Basavilbaso, Maccari Sophia, Martina Cavallero, Victoria and Jimena Granatto Cedrés will be all be there to gain to additional international experience following Rome. Julieta Alonso is also picked, Bank Club Player of the Nation, on her first trip abroad representing Argentina.
(Soledad Garcia and Delfina Merino are not in the pack, even though a series of Hoofdklasse top flight games in Holland ,where they play their club hockey, have been cancelled across the board due to weather conditions similar to those that have disrupted hockey at all levels in England. ( All games across the country have been cancelled as the Dutch Federation felt that regional climate variations would make for an unfair competition this week and possibly next ) .
In the era Retegui, this is the second time that Las Leonas have played on South African soil. In June 2009, they competed in the Spar Cup, where they beat their hosts l 8-1 in a warm up and 3-1 during the tournament. It is also worth remembering that the two national teams met in Rosario, during Argentina's pool opener in the World Cup, the host nation winning 5 to 2.
Meanwhile the International Hockey Federation . (FIH) website carries a recent report illustrating South Africa’s team preparations and current training camp details. The RSA do have some serious injury concerns amongst the forwards, Roxy Turner of Kaspersky Southern Gauteng as well as KZN Coastal Raiders forwards Cindy Botha and captain Jen Wilson are definitely out. Several SA players who are also playing for clubs in Holland, including Marescia, will be flying in from Europe Tuesday to join the squad.
(Some information in this report is my translation from the original press release in Spanish courtesy of the CAH)
More here FIH official website
And for the RSA hockey website click here > South Africa Hockey Association
The five Test Matches will take place on the 12th, 13th , 15h, 16th an 17th December.
Argentina Selected Players :
Belén Succi GK
Maria Laura Aladro GK
Noel Barrionuevo
Mariela Scarone
Macarena Rodríguez
Rosario Luchetti
Daniela Lucia Sruoga
Maria Silvina D'Elia
Giselle Kanevsky
Carla Dupuy
Natalia Del Frari
Marc Casale
María Josefina Sruoga
Ana López Basavilbaso
Maccari Sophia
Martina Cavallero
Victoria Granatto
Jimena Cedrés
Julieta Alonso
Coaching Staff:
Coach: Carlos Retegui
Technical Assistant: Santiago Capurro
Kinesiologist: Sergio Lemos
Physical trainer: Eduardo Pesci
Medical: Sunday Usin
Video operator: Rolando Rivero
Chair of CAH delegation: Sandra Isola
Please note; You may not download or make any editorial or personal use of any of the images from my report without my written consent..
(Tenga en cuenta, Usted no podrá descargar o realizar cualquier editorial o el uso personal de alguna de las imágenes de mi informe sin mi consentimiento por escrito)
