Three PAHF teams from a total of 8 (3 from Europe and 2 from Oceania) will play the semifinals, meaning that all Pan-American participating teams have reached the semifinals at the Rabobank Hockey World Cup!
Women Pool B – USA vs. South Africa: 4-2 (1-0)
Much was resting on this game, with South Africa desperate to finish the pool round in fifth place or higher to give themselves a chance to contest positions well above their current FIH World Ranking (12). The USA, by contrast, were seeking three points to cement their place at the top of the table and put pressure on Argentina in the later pool B game this afternoon. Whoever finishes second in the pool will face the Netherlands, while the pool winner will face Australia.
For the first 15 minutes it was South Africa who seized the initiative, with Bernadette Coston, Shelley Russell and the pacy Sulette Damons putting the USA defence under pressure. Unfortunately for the South Africa team, the resulting penalty corners were not put away and gradually the USA began to work their way into the game. As is the USA way, this was a workmanlike performance, on a day that they weren't firing on all cylinders, they still performed when it counted – in front of goal.
On the 35th minute of the game, Melissa Gonzalez ran at the South Africa defence and won a penalty corner. Caroline Nichols swept the ball in towards the left-hand post and the ball struck Celia Evans on the foot. The ensuing penalty stroke was calmly converted by Nichols, who has not put a foot wrong in this tournament so far.
After the break, South Africa again came out firing on all cylinders and it was captain Marsha Cox (36') who levelled the score, with a tap in after good build-up play from Dirkie Chamberlain and Damons. The South African's joy turned to dismay three minutes alter as Katie Reinprecht again gave the USA the lead as she swept in a, now trademark, Nichol's penalty corner.
The USA's captain Lauren Crandall got onto the score-sheet for the first time this tournament when she converted a penalty stroke in the 45th minute to give her team a 3-1 cushion, but again the South African's came back fighting and Dirkie Chamberlain's relentless running at the USA defence resulted in a penalty corner. Lisa-Marie Deetlefs' shot was deflected by Chamberlain (47') into the goal past Jackie Kintzer.
The loss of the speedy Damons through injury set the South Africa team back and the game was sealed for the USA when Rachel Dawson shot home with a drag flick at the penalty corner to make it 4-2.
Speaking after the game, Lauren Crandall admitted that there was "less intensity" to their performance today. "All we could do was keep going and hope that we regained our intensity through hard work."
Dirkie Chamberlain said: "Well done to America but well done to my team. We had some chances we should have put away, but we worked hard. We came out hard in the second half and put them under pressure, but it didn't go our way."
Women Pool B – Argentina vs. China: 1-1 (1-0)
Carlos Retegui created a remarkable moment of history by guiding two international teams to the semi-final stages at the Rabobank Hockey World Cup, with Argentina's women claiming a place in the last four only hours after the men had achieved exactly the same thing.
Las Leonas reached the semi-finals of the women's competition thanks to a 1-1 draw with China, a result which guaranteed a second place finish behind USA, the surprise winners of Pool B in the final match of the tournament to be played at the wonderful GreenFields Stadium here in The Hague. All remaining World Cup matches will take place in the 15,000 seater Kyocera Stadium.
Argentina's failure to top the pool has come at a cost, meaning that they will now face reigning Olympic Champions and tournament hosts the Netherlands in the semi-finals, with USA and Australia going head to head in the other semi.
Following USA's 4-2 victory over South Africa earlier in the day, Argentina started the match knowing that they needed a big win over China if they were going to move ahead of the Americans on goal difference at the top of Pool B. The South Americans needed to win by five clear goals to take the top spot ahead of their North American rivals. Meanwhile, China started the day 3rd in the pool, three points behind Las Leonas but eight goals worse off on goal difference, meaning that the also knew that a mammoth win was necessary to keep their World Cup dream alive.
Despite both teams needing big wins, just one goal was scored in a fairly even first half. Argentina were the scorers, with Carla Rebecchi touching home from close range after Delfina Merino had an effort saved by China keeper Wang Mengyu.
For the second match in succession Argentina were missing the creative talents of eight times FIH Player of the Year Luciana Aymar, who spent the entire contest watching from the sidelines. Coach Retegui clearly did not want to risk the veteran superstar aggravating the hamstring injury that she picked up against New Zealand, but her presence was sorely missed as Las Leonas struggled to break down their Asian opponents.
Argentina were guilty of some wasteful finishing with the few chances that they had, and it proved to be costly as China grabbed an equaliser 12 minutes from the end of the match. Peng Yang was the scorer, robbing the ball from an Argentine defender before lashing a tomahawk shot into the roof of Belen Succi's goal. It was China's only shot on target all game, and proved to be enough to seal a draw against the reigning World Champions.
"It was a close game I think, we couldn't win or score the goals we needed to take first place but we reached an objective by making the semi-final", said Argentina's Delfina Merino in the post match interview. "We'll try to fix the things that didn't work today and do better next game. The semi-final will be like a final, which is ok for us. Although we didn't win today, the dream is alive."
Official Match Report (PDF)
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