Lisa Altenburg #18 of Germany moves the ball past Alyssa Manley #29 of United States during the quarter final hockey game on Day 10 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Hockey Centre on August 15, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Advertisement
New Zealand’s Gemma Flynn, fights for the ball with Australia’s Karri McMahon, left, and Australia’s Jane Claxton, right, during a women’s field hockey quarterfinal match at 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 15, 2016.
Defender Gonzalo Peillat hit a hattrick of penalty corners with Joaquin Menini and Lucas Vila giving Argentina a 5-0 lead.
Another team who clearly did not feel the pressure of the occasion were Belgium (WR: 6), who were cool, calm and collected as they knocked out two times Olympic gold medallists the Netherlands (WR: 2).
Argentina were also indebted to goalkeeper Juan Vivaldi who pulled off 10 saves in total. “We are in the final”.
The semifinals on Tuesday see the Netherlands play Belgium, and Germany face Argentina. The last two quarterfinals were later Sunday.
Australia’s women were seeking a first Olympic semi-final appearance since the 2000 Games in Sydney but again go home empty-handed after three consecutive fifth place finishes in Athens, Beijing and London.
Germany bombed at the World Cup, but still had a core of seven players from the 2012 champion side. That’s when Germany replaced its goalie for an extra forward to try and limit the humiliation.
But Carlos Retegui-coached Argentina just needed to defend smartly as they had finished the match much before.
“They defended well, they scored three corners, that just can t happen”. After that it was very hard for us to come back into the game.
THE Hockeyroos were out-played by the Black Sticks in a disappointing 4-2 loss at the Rio Olympics. But we believed in ourselves. It was also the end of the line for greats Jamie Dwyer and Mark Knowles, the last active 2004 gold medalists.
“We just have to play our structures, play our game and go into the game confident like we’ve been doing”.
Like Argentina, the Belgians are a veteran team, even more so.
She had visualised them winning, but not by scoring four goals against the No.3-ranked Australians.
The PA system broke down, so the national anthems couldn’t be played. “They make every second count”.
Advertisement
“It was a goosebump moment”, forward Thomas Briels said. “The players have given everything they got”. Jerome Truyens lashed home a penalty corner rebound to put the Red Lions ahead before Belgium captain John-John Dohmen doubled the advantage from close range after great work from Cedric Charlier.
