Bakker turned provider just before halftime when he stepped and leaped over three sticks up the middle to find Bob de Voogd, who swept in near the left post.
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Spain (WR: 14) started their match against Korea (WR: 8) knowing that a victory would move them temporarily into the fourth Quarter-Final qualification position and would increase the pressure on China (WR: 6), who would then need to get at least a draw against in-form New Zealand (WR: 4) in the final Pool A match.
“On everything we had an answer today”.
Though the Indians matched the Belgians in the first quarter, there were moments when they allowed the rivals space in the midfield and opportunity to enter the striking circle. “We’re pretty slack when it comes to the real key areas of goal-scoring and keeping the ball out”.
The end came for Australia’s streak of six straight medals at Olympics that began at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
He added, “We played with full pressure, but full pressure, I always say, is a kind of bluff”. We have the youngest team in the competition and for majority this is their first kind of experience. New Zealand has never beaten Germany in a major event. The script remained unaltered against the Netherlands as they gave away unnecessary penalty corners in the final 10 minutes to again lose by a 1-2 margin. Belgium’s second was nearly inevitable, as Elliot van Strydock’s reverse stick pass from left of the circle was guided in by a diving Dockier. They topped their group with four wins out of five matches.
Tupper brought Canada on level with a successful penalty corner conversion in the 52nd minute. The tactic worked, with team captain Moritz Fürste scoring two penalty corner drag-flicks to restore parity before Florian Fuchs netted a brilliant victor with just 1.4 seconds on the clock.
India, on the other hand, looked completely out of sorts as they played catch-up hockey. Argentina ended the second quarter 5-0. It’s Argentina’s men first time in the semifinals in 11 Olympics.
The video evidence was clear, and Gilardi placed the stroke high right while goalkeeper Quico Cortés dived low left.
“(Cortes) tried to talk, tried to get me to not be focused on the stroke. Instead, what happened often was that there were terrific passes sent into the opposition circle, but the likes of Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep and Nikkin Thimmaiah were not sure about who was going to make the charge towards goal. India had gone from strength to strength in recent months while Belgium had slumped down the ranking ladder due to some indifferent performances a year ago – especially in the European Nations Cup.
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One minute before the end of the third quarter, India nearly had scored their first goal when a diving Anuradha Thokchom tried to send the ball inside the post amidst the goal-mouth melee but their video referral was disallowed. The Belgians were hanging off tackles, even more apparent when they allowed Hugo Inglis a solo run across the goalmouth to flick in a soft goal for 3-0, at which point the New Zealanders knew they’d secured the fourth and last playoff berth in Pool A.
