“We are a team with the ambition to keep winning, and that’s what shows every time we go on the field”.
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Meanwhile, Argentina and Belgium were breathing rarefied air when they reached the medal rounds. So far we have created a lot of opportunities in the matches we have played. The Netherlands, seeking an unprecedented third straight gold medal, will play Germany on Saturday for potentially the victor of the pool and a supposedly easier route to the semifinals.
Spain failed to qualify for the 2012 London Games and 2014 World Cup, and was invited to Rio last November when South Africa declined to send its African champion women’s team.
The India-Netherlands match witnessed intense drama in the final seconds as India did not bow out without a fight against the world ranked 2 side. “You should just stick to your structure”. They got off to a strong start by knocking off No. 2 Argentina and No. 3 Australia in their first two matches.
“On everything we had an answer today”.
“Katie’s a prolific goal scorer and has been for many years”, US coach Craig Parnham said. But Savita pulled off a spectacular save as a goalless Q1 came to an end. “We have been talking to the players to play with composure”, Sreejesh said.
“We had the youngest average age of all the teams participating at this year’s Olympics”.
Three minutes into the final quarter, Belgium earned their third penalty corner.
Tupper had an answer for that when he found success on a corner shortly after. If they dished out spectacular performance against the Germans and the Netherlands, they were seen struggling against small teams like Ireland and Canada. “The moment when it counted we were unbelievably lucky”.
Anita McLaren’s penalty corner shot hit the post. It’s Argentina’s men first time in the semifinals in 11 Olympics. The video evidence was clear, and Gilardi’s stroke easily beat goalkeeper Francisco Cortes. The Red Lions’ only loss came against New Zealand (1-3) in their final group match yesteday.
“(Cortes) tried to talk, tried to get me to not be focused on the stroke. I’m not sure about that and the other one was for elbowing. India had gone from strength to strength in recent months while Belgium had slumped down the ranking ladder due to some indifferent performances previous year – especially in the European Nations Cup. But the quarter still belonged to Belgium as the script could easily have been reversed had India skipper and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh not thwarted Sebastien Dockier a minutes before Akashdeep Singh had deflected into the goal a through pass sent in from beyond the 25-yard line on a counterattack.
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One has to understand that back-to-back matches are never easy in the sweltering Rio heat, but credit must go to India for rising to the occasion and sneaking past tenacious Argentina 2-1, after soaking up a barrage of offensive pressure in the final quarter of the match.
