LONDON, Ontario, Canada - The 2nd Men's Pan American Cup will start on Wednesday at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada. Twelve teams will take part and the winner will qualify for the 2006 World Cup to be held in Germany. The final will be played on Sunday May 23.

In pool A, Argentina will face Brazil, Chile, Puerto Rico, USA and Venezuela. Pool B will oppose Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay.

Argentina is the logical favorite, as the toped ranked team based on the newly created FIH World Rankings and as the only team from the Americas qualified for the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens.

But the Argentineans will surely remember the inaugural Pan American Cup, held 4 years ago in Cuba, when the host Cuban team surprised both Argentina (3-1 in pool play) and Canada (2-1 in the Final) to earn a birth in the 2002 World Cup.

Argentina, Canada and Cuba were again the top 3 teams at the 2003 Pan American Games, played last summer in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but Chile showed in that competition that they were improving fast and could have a shot at the podium.

The host Canadian team, that missed the qualification for the Olympic Games at the Olympic Qualifier in Madrid, will be hungry for revenge and could benefit from the boost of playing on home soil, although London is far from Vancouver, the traditional base of hockey in Canada.

This 2nd Pan American Cup will be the first appearance of the Brazilian team on a major outdoor continental competition (they already played in the 2002 Indoor Pan American Cup). Brazil will host the next Pan American Games in Rio in 2007 and the Associacao Brasileira de Hockey has put in place a strong development program with the goal that their National Team will be at a good level in this competition.

The 2nd Pan American Cup will also mark the return of the Netherlands Antilles in a major continental competition. In 2003, at the Region 2 Qualifier for this competition, they logged their first ever international victory after upsetting the USA 2-1. Most of the players of the Netherlands Antilles have learned their hockey in Holland, which is always a label of quality.

The competition will open at 8:00am on Wednesday with Argentina facing Venezuela. Other teams in pool A will follow, with Chile vs. Puerto Rico and USA v. Brazil. After the Opening Ceremonies, the team in pool B will be in action, with Canada v. Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba v. Uruguay and Mexico v. Netherlands Antilles.

Live commentaries of some of some of the games will be available on PlanetFieldHockey.com.

The Tournament Director at the 2nd Pan American Cup is Eduardo Guelfand, from Argentina, assisted by Cameron Burke, from Barbados, and Derek Sandison, from Canada. Five judges and thirteen umpires from 12 countries (including 3 neutral Europeans umpires) will officiate in the competition.