USA thrash Mexico 9-0, Japan beat South Africa 2-0

The United States continued its fine form and thrashed Mexico 9-0 to register its second consecutive win at the FIH Series Finals hockey tournament here Saturday. In the first Pool B match between world no. 25 USA and their neighbours ranked 39th, Michael Jr Barminski (3rd, 53rd minutes) and Sean Cicchi (37th, 52nd) scored two goals each for the winners.

Julian Croonenberghs (14th), Tyler Sundeen (30th), who replaced regular skipper Ajai Dhadwal, Alberto Montilla (39th), Christian de Angelis (42nd) and William Holt (60th) were the other goal-getters for the Americans. USA had earlier stunned South Africa 2-0 in the tournament opener on Thursday, while Mexico had slumped to 1-3 defeat against Asian Games champion Japan.

Later in the day, Tokyo Olympic hosts Japan scored two field goals through Kentaro Fukuda (26th) and Kazuma Murata (45th) to secure their second win in Pool B. USA and Japan will face off against each other on June 10 to decide the pool toppers, while South Africa take on Mexico, with the winner of the game progressing to the cross-overs.