Canada Cup - Day Two Report - by Judy Joseph

Semi-Finals set at Canada Cup –
USA Goes through the Round Robin Undefeated

BC Wheelchair Sports Association (BCWSA) is hosting the Canada Cup, an International Pre-Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby Tournament involving National Teams from five countries, at Bonsor Recreation Centre in Burnaby.  On day two, the United States downed Canada 43-31 to take top spot in the pool with five wins and no losses.

Though the US had leads of 19-15 at half-time and 26-24 after three quarters, both head coaches conceded their teams didn't play their best on the day.

"We played the US toe to toe for one quarter," said Canadian Head Coach, Joseph Soares.  "We didn't show up for the rest, they outplayed us."

"I don't think we played well at all today," countered USA Head Coach, Kevin Orr.  "We were out of position a lot on defense.  Canada was really strong, showing their depth."

Indeed, Canada, the reigning World Champion, did go to their bench often with Soares making several substitutions.

"Those young players on Canada's bench got valuable playing time.  That experience is only going to help them later on," added Orr.

Both Canada and the United States had to wait until the end of the Great Britain & Belgium game to determine who they will play Sunday in their semi-final games.  The team from Britain defeated Belgium 42-36 leaving Germany, Great Britain and Belgium all tied with two wins and three losses.  By virtue of a tiebreaker, Belgium was deemed fifth and will take on Canada Ice (the Canadian developmental team) for fifth and sixth place tomorrow.

Canada will now take on Great Britain in their semi-final while the US has Germany to contend with Germany.

"We defeated Germany by 11 points earlier in the tournament but we'll have to take control earlier in the game," continued Orr.  "We know Germany has two fast players so it will be our job to take them out of the play."

As for getting up to play Great Britain, Soares has no doubt his team will be up to the task.  "We'll be ready to play tomorrow.  It's not too hard to focus.  It's simple for us.  All we have to do is win."

In other games today, the US had wins over Great Britain (43-29) and Canada Ice (49-20).  Canada had a 46-34 win over Belgium and defeated Germany 48-36.  Belgium fought to a close 37-36 win over Germany while Great Britain defeated Canada Ice 51-29.

Play continues tomorrow (Sunday, June 27, 2004) at 9:00 a.m. for semi-finals while the final is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.