Madonna King is consoled at the end of play in the Women’s Hockey Quarterfinal between New Zealand and Australia.
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Argentina fans cheer during a men’s field hockey semifinal match against Germany at 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016. Belgium beat the Netherlands for the first time in major competition, ending an 80-year winless run.
“This is insane”, midfielder Lucas Rey said.
“We never give up”, Furste said. The last time the Americans won a medal in 1984, when they took home bronze in Los Angeles. “Definitely [my] last Olympics”, Blyth said.
Argentina (FIH Hero World Ranking: 7) sealed their first ever Olympic final appearance with a stunning 5-2 win over Germany (WR: 3).
Argentina was drawn 4-4 with 8 seconds to go, when Mathias Muller fired in a penalty corner.
After the interval, Joaquin Menini and Lucas Vila extended Argentina’s lead to 5-0 with less than a quarter left. That’s when Germany replaced its goalie for an extra forward to try and limit the roasting.
The United States led their final pool play match against Britain heading into the fourth period before losing 2-1.
Defender/midfielder Shea McAleese said they would take the choking accusations on the chin.
“We came into the tournament hopeful of getting on the podium but were unable to achieve that”, added coach Parnham. Captain Moritz Furste (51st) converted a penalty stroke, while Christopher Ruhr sounded the board in the 58th minute.
“We just had to believe in ourselves, execute the game plan and chase”. They were never then able to manufacture any sort of meaningful comeback in the final term, despite another goal from Slattery with just more than a minute to play, and were dumped from the tournament before the medal stage. Early in the second quarter, the ball slid by the German keeper for an apparent US goal.
Like Argentina, the Belgians are a veteran team, even more so.
There are two events still to race – the flying lap and the 40km points race – which will both get underway after 7am.
Ultimately it paid off, and Belgium sealed its fate to move on to the gold medal match.
The PA system broke down, so the national anthems couldn’t be played.
The Dutch roster goes deep as well, with offensive threats in Billy Bakker and Seve Van Ass to name just a couple who have been key producers throughout this tournament.
The Black Sticks were leading 2-0 before the gritty Germans hit back with three goals in the last four minutes to claim an emphatic victory.
Belgium continued to cut through midfield, set up chances, while strangling the favorites.
The Germans secured a spot in the semifinals Wednesday night against the victor of the Netherlands-Argentina match that will take place Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. Of course we prefer not to be two goals down in the first part of the game but we’ve been there before and fought our way back. The players were contributing their best during the game and they have always given their best. “That’s what we’re here for, right?”
The final game – U.S. 1, GER, 2 – brought with it controversial calls made by the officials.
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“It’s a performance that we will be bitterly disappointed (about)”, Knowles said.
