DIARY: MAY 29
DIARY: MAY 29
| |||||||||||||
|
May 29 |
Day 10 of competition saw all the crossover games in the women's competition. Unlike the men's competition where the top 4 teams of the Atlanta Olympics qualified again for the semi-finals, there was some new blood at the top. Australia (Reigning World Champions and Olympic Gold medallists) and Holland (Olympic Bronze Medallists) are still there but Korea and England (playing in the Olympics as Great Britain) have disappeared. Korea is not far away: they will play for the 5-6 position but seem to have limited potential. Their speed doesn't surprise the opposition any more and they lack variation in their game to be a real threat to the top sides. England has dropped further: after their 4th place in Atlanta (they lost the Bronze medal to Holland in a penalty-stroke competition…), they will now play for the 9-10 position. They had the misfortune to lose early in the tournament three of the veterans supposed to anchor an otherwise rather young and inexperienced team. New Zealand (with a win over South Africa, 3-1) and Korea
(with a win over USA, 2-0) won the first jackpots of the day: they'll
finish in the top six and will therefore qualify automatically for the next World Cup.
The first semi-final was between Australia and Argentina. Australia went up 2-0 very quickly (9 minutes) and seemed likely to cruise to an easy win. But Argentina gave them a hard time for the remaining of the first half and scored by Karina Masotta shortly after half-time. They have a unique style, maybe inherited from the Argentinean tango: one minute they look slow and innocent, the next they speed up and fly around you like there is no tomorrow.
Suddenly, the "Hockeyroos" didn't seem so dominant and they even committed some errors ("errors"? They probably don't even know how to spell this word!). It took them nearly fifteen minutes to reclaim their undisputed superiority with another goal by who else but Alyson Annan, her second of the night. The final score was 4-2 but the Argentineans could leave the field with their heads high.
The second semi-final opposed Holland and Germany. Everybody still had in mind the trashing of the Dutch men's side by Germany last Sunday (1-5) and the crowd came "en masse" once again to support the orange team, hoping for revenge. The Dutch women looked so young compared to the steady Germans or the radiant Australians; they seemed overwhelmed at the beginning of the tournament by the huge popular support (and expectations!) but they revelled in it last night and positively decimated the German team! They very quickly went up 2-0 and the Germans only came back within reach briefly at the 23rd minute. Then a flurry of orange attacks sealed the game with two goals in less than one minute at the 45th minute mark. Their fifth goal by Mijntje Donners kept the crowd roaring in amazement for a while: in a goal mouth scramble, the ball went up on a defender's stick but Mijntje calmly controlled it in mid-air, walked away from the mess and tapped it into goal!
Even the driver of the late shuttle going from the stadium to the village was happy. He was of course sporting an orange tie and greeting everybody at the door with a jubilant "we beat the Germans this time!" Dutch coach Tom van't Hek could not attend the post game press conference: he was rushed to the hospital (with police escort) where his wife was having a baby! Tomorrow is cross-over day for the men. The semi-finals will both be formidable: Holland-Australia followed by Germany-Spain! Both games could go either way, only Holland could possibly claim a slight edge on Australia. Earlier in the day, Canada will face England for the 5-8 cross-over. The challenge with the World Cup is that the better you do, the higher the stakes are for the next game: the winner of this one will be automatically qualified for the next World Cup and possibly invited to the Champions Trophy! Unfortunately, Canada will play without defense anchor Alan Brahmst: he was suspended for one game as a result of "extremely unsportsman-like behavior directed at the Indian team bench following Canada's 4-1 victory over India". At the end of the game against India, Alan Brahmst apparently couldn't resist the temptation to go and tease the Indian bench to remind them of the alleged fixed game at the Olympic qualifier in Barcelona: a 0-0 draw between India and Malaysia allowed the two teams to qualify for the Atlanta Olympics at the expense of the Canadian team. Yesterday, the Canadian players, staff and spectators were too busy celebrating the victory and didn't even notice the incident. But the technical officials and umpires saw it and even needed to step in between Alan and some upset Indian players. One would think that beating India so cleanly on the field of play could
have been a sweet enough revenge... Alan will pay dearly for this flare of
temper. He is of course the first one to regret it and sent a written apology
to the Tournament Director and apologized to his teammates.
|
| |||||||||||||
|
For more information:
fhc@fieldhockey.ca
F.H.C. Menu
'98 World Cup Menu
CANADIAN CORNER !
