Great Britain started their Olympic qualification campaign in Santiago with a promising opening performance against Mexico. GB dominated the initial exchanges with Barry Middleton having a shot at goal stopped by goalkeeper Garcia in the fifth minute. Despite their dominance, GB found goals hard to come by in the first half. Simon Mantell opened the account in the fourteenth minute and his brother, Richard, managed to find the net from a penalty corner eight minutes later. It was twelve minutes into the second half that Great Britain started a goal storm which showed the difference in the rankings between the two sides. Stephen Dick scored in open play, followed in quick succession by goals from Richard Alexander, Simon Mantell, Barry Middleton, Matt Daly (2), Rob Moore, Ashley Jackson and James Tindall. Final score: 11-0 to Great Britain.
Not the most difficult of matches for GB, but as we have said on this blog before, tournaments are often won or lost on the easy games.
In the second match of the day India beat Russia 8-0. Great Britain play Russia at 16|:00 tomorrow (local time). Santiago is three hours behind the UK.
