July 16, 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa: Following another high-quality day of action at the University of the Witwatersrand, the quarter-final line-up of the women’s Hockey World League Semi-Final has been revealed. The first of the quarter-final matches, which take place on Tuesday 18th July, will be played at 11:15 South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2), with Pool B runners-up USA facing Japan, who finished third in Pool A. That match is followed by Argentina versus Ireland, with the teams that finished first in Pool B and fourth in Pool A respectively meeting at 13:30. At 15:45, Pool A winners England play Pool B’s fourth placed team India before Germany, second in Pool A, take on a South Africa side that claimed third place in Pool B at 1800. In Pool A, England emerged at the top of the standings with nine points from their four matches, ahead of second placed Germany, Japan in third, Ireland fourth and Poland fifth. The top four were all in action on Sunday, with Germany recording a comfortable 3-0 victory over Japan before England battled past Ireland 3-2 to claim top spot. Japan (FIH Hero World Ranking: 11) were the better team in the opening stages of their match against Germany (WR: 7), but failed to get the breakthrough despite rattling the frame of the goal moments before Die Danas took the lead in the 23rd minute. Charlotte Stapenhorst was credited with the goal, although her cross-shot appeared to be going wide before taking an unfortunate deflection from a Japanese player. Strikes in the third and fourth quarters from Nike Lorenz and Cecile Pieper sealed the win and put Germany, albeit temporarily, into first place in the pool ahead of the England versus Ireland match. Speaking after the game, Germany captain Janne Müller-Wieland said: “Japan are a great team and we have massive respect for them. I am very pleased with the win, especially the way the team has reacted to the defeat [against England].” Both England (WR: 2) and Ireland (WR: 15) went into the final Pool A match knowing that a win for either would be enough to top the standings, with England taking a 2-0 lead into half time thanks Sarah Haycroft’s deflected shot and a superb penalty corner deflection from Shona McCallin. The Green Army hit back with two quick goals shortly after the break through Nicci Daly and a captain’s goal from Katie Mullan, taking the score to 2-2 and leaving the European champions stunned. However, England were not to be denied, with team captain Alex Danson pouncing on a penalty corner rebound to score her 102nd international goal and seal that all-important first place finish. “They [Ireland] are so hard working, it is actually annoying”, said England’s Lily Owsley, who earned her 100th senior international cap (England and Great Britain combined), after the match. “They just don’t give up, they fight for every ball and are getting better and better. Fair play to them, they gave us a real run for our money today and actually dominated at times but we came through it, which is the important thing.” In Pool B, Argentina finished in first place, with USA, South Africa and India taking the second, third and fourth quarter-final qualification positions respectively. South Africa (WR: 13) produced an epic performance in front of a passion-filled capacity crowd to defeat USA (WR: 6) 3-2 and confirm their place in the competition quarter-finals, breaking the hearts of Chile who were forced into fifth place on the back of the result. Melissa Gonzalez cracked home a brilliant backhand effort to give USA the lead in the 14th minute before Jade Mayne pulled the home favourites level ahead of hand time. Jill Witmer edged the Americans ahead just before the third quarter break, but two goals from Candice Manuel in the fourth quarter triggered wild celebrations from the both the home fans and the players as South Africa booked their ticket to the quarter-final. “I’m just super stoked”, said a thrilled Bernie Coston after the match. “We came here with an overall goal, now we just take it game by game. USA are a tough team to play against, and also bring the best out of us. The crowd went berserk with every tackle, and that really made a difference.” Defeat for USA in the third match of the day meant that Argentina (WR: 3) went into their final Pool B match against India (WR: 12) knowing that they were already certain of a first place finish. It made little difference to their approach, as Las Leonas produced another excellent display to claim a 3-0 triumph over India’s Eves. Argentina needed less than 90 seconds to leave their first imprint on the score-sheet with Rocio Sanchez making it 1-0 before an open play effort from Maria Granatto and Noel Barrionuevo’s penalty stroke took the score to 3-0 at half time. India produced a much improved performance in the third and fourth quarters but Argentina’s lead never looked threatened. Argentina’s Delfina Merino was pleased with her team’s performance, and said that the focus would now switch onto their quarter-final clash with Ireland. “They [Ireland] are a very tough team, we’ve been watching some of their matches here”, said Merino. “We will need to be very focused.” On Monday 17th July, the final four matches of the men’s pools will take place to decide the quarter-final line up. Australia and Japan take to the field for their Pool A contest at 12:00 South African Standard Time (UTC +2) before Spain and New Zealand, who also compete in Pool A, face-off at 14:00. Pool B draws to a close with the day’s two final matches, with Germany taking on Ireland at 16:00 ahead of the South Africa versus Belgium clash at 1800. Women’s Quarter-Final line-up Matches to be played Tuesday 18 July 2017. All times South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2) 11:15: USA (2nd Pool B) v Japan (3rd Pool A) 13:30: Argentina (1st

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July 17, 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa: Australia and Germany were confirmed as the winners of their respective pools at the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Johannesburg, revealing the line-up for the competition quarter-finals. At 11:15 South African Standard Time (UTC +2), Pool A winners Australia will take on Egypt, who finished fourth in Pool B before Pool A’s second ranked Spain face Ireland, who finished third in Pool B, at 13:30. Pool B winners Germany go head-to-head with Pool A’s fourth placed team France at 15:45, with Pool B runners-up Belgium playing Pool A’s third place finishers New Zealand at 1800. In Pool A, Australia’s Kookaburras defeated bottom of the table Japan 7-2 to confirm their place at the top of the standings, with Spain, New Zealand and France finishing in second, third and fourth respectively. The battle between Spain and New Zealand went the way of the Red Sticks, who claimed a remarkable 4-3 victory over the Black Sticks to take second place in the pool. New Zealand finished ahead of France purely on goals scored, with the two sides completing the pool phase level on points and goal-difference. Australia (FIH Hero World Ranking: 2) opened the scoring just 12 seconds into their match against Japan (WR: 16), with Mark Knowles making no mistake from the penalty spot after Trent Mitton was brought down on-route to goal. The world champions turned the screw with a further three goals ahead of half time as Jake Whetton netted a double before Dylan Wotherspoon made it 4-0 at the break. Aran Zalewski and Tom Wickham made it 6-0, with Japan scoring goals either side of the third quarter break through penalty corners from Shota Yamada and Hirotaka Zendana. Australia added gloss on proceedings when Jeremy Hayward bagged a penalty corner to complete the scoring. “We said that if we won all of our pool games we would have been happy, but we knew that the quarter-final was our main aim”, said Australia captain Mark Knowles. “The coach [Colin Batch] is a bit disappointed with the performance today. I think the only good thing we did was to start really well, which is what you have to do against these sides.” The final match of Pool A was one of the most entertaining of the event so far, with Spain (WR: 10) eventually taking all three points against New Zealand (WR: 8) in a contest that seemed to constantly shift in momentum. Spain established a 2-0 lead through Josep Romeu and Enrique Gonzalez, but a brilliant, brave tactical move from Black Sticks Head Coach Darren Smith saw his goalkeeper replaced with a kicking back midway through the third quarter, a decision turned the match on its head. New Zealand played for 15 minutes without a goalkeeper and scored three times, with Shea McAleese, Nic Woods and Kane Russell taking the score to 3-2 before goalkeeper Devon Manchester returned to the action. Remarkably, Spain also gambled by removing shot-stopper Quico Cortes and got their reward, grabbing a superb volleyed equaliser from Alvaro Iglesias with three minutes remaining. New Zealand’s gamble to remove their goalkeeper for a second time backfired, as Pau Quemada robbed a defender before walking the ball into an unguarded net. “We suffered a little bit in the third quarter, when they played really well and we were not creating anything”, said Quemada post match. “We brought on the kicking back and it changed everything. It was definitely the game of the kicking back.” In Pool B, Germany sealed first place with a 2-0 win against Ireland, who finished the pool phase in third place. Belgium completed their Pool B campaign with a comfortable 9-1 victory over hosts South Africa, a result which ended South African hopes of a place in the quarter-finals, with Egypt taking the fourth and final qualification spot. Germany (WR: 3) were made to work hard for all three points by Ireland’s Green Machine (WR: 9), who made life difficult for Die Honamas throughout. Tom Grambusch’s scored a penalty corner drag-flick near the end of the first quarter, but were made to wait until ten minutes from the end of the match before adding a second thanks to an open play strike from Martin Zwicker. “I’m delighted that we won and finished top of the group”, said Germany captain Mats Grambusch. “A few weeks ago we lost 4-2 against Ireland in Hamburg, so we knew it was going to be tough. They are a good opponent and very hard to beat.” South Africa (WR: 15) came into their match against Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Belgium (WR: 5) knowing that only a win would be enough for them to overtake Egypt into the fourth quarter-final qualification position. Sadly, that dream was ended a Red Lions team that were almost untouchable at times, opening up a 7-0 lead before half time with Alexander Hendrickx, Nicolas de Kerpel, Thomas Briels (2), Sebastien Dockier, Loick Luypaert and Cedric Charlier the scorers. Dockier scored Belgium’s eighth just after half time before Matthew Guise-Brown netted for South Africa, but it was the Red Lions who had the final word when Gauthier Boccard added a ninth late on. On Tuesday 18th July, the quarter-finals of the women’s competition will take place, with a place at both the Women’s Hockey World League Final Auckland and the Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 on the table for the winners. At 11:15 South African Standard Time (UTC +2), USA (2nd Pool B) face Japan (3rd Pool A) with Argentina (1st Pool B) playing Ireland (4th Pool A) at 13:30. England (1st Pool A) take on India (4th Pool B) at 15:45 before Germany (2nd Pool A) meet hosts South Africa (3rd Pool B) at 18:00. Men’s Quarter-Final line-up Matches to be played Wednesday 19 July 2017. All times South Africa Standard Time (UTC +2) 11:15: Australia (1st Pool A) v Egypt (4th Pool B) 13:30: Spain (2nd Pool A) v Ireland (3rd Pool B) 15:45: Germany

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FIH presents a list of TV Channels/Networks where you can follow your favourite teams and players in Johannesburg, South Africa. Use the table below to find out how to watch your favourite players and teams from your country or region. Source: FIH