2 August 2018 Netherlands defeat host nation England to secure place in semi-final Ireland continue to make their own history as they face first ever World Cup semi-final Either Spain or Ireland will make World Cup final debut London: On a remarkable day of action, Ireland and Netherlands completed the line-up for the semi-finals of the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018, booking their tickets to the final four with victories over India and host nation England respectively. Ireland yet again defied their 16th position in the FIH Hero World Rankings to claim a shoot-out victory over India, ensuring that the Green Army’s fairy-tale story would continue into the final weekend. Goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran was again a star for Ireland, conceding just once in the shoot-out to set up a semi-final meeting against Spain on Saturday 4th August at 1400 (UTC/GMT+1). The Netherlands broke the hearts of the host nation with a deserved 2-0 triumph over England in front of 10,500 fans, with Vitality Player of the Match Lidewij Welten and Laurien Leurink both on target as Oranje maintained their impressive title charge in London. The Dutch will now face Australia in this Saturday’s semi-final, which will take place at 16:30 local time. Ireland (WR:16) had already created history simply by reaching the quarter-final phase, eclipsing anything that the Green Army had achieved in previous editions of the Hockey Women’s World Cup. However, the team coached by Graham Shaw were determined to ensure that their staggering run in London was not about to end when they faced India (WR:10). Ireland’s 1-0 win over the Eves in Pool B was certainly reason to believe that they could secure a dream place in the semi-finals, although India’s excellent 3-0 cross-over play-off victory against Italy on Tuesday ensured that the Asian continental champions were justifiably confident about their own chances. The two teams cancelled each out for much of the match, with India putting in place an excellent defensive strategy to reduce the effectiveness of Ireland’s potent counter-attacking style on another hot evening in London. Irish attacker Anna O’Flanagan had two chances in quick succession in the second quarter but failed to test India’s ever impressive shot-stopper Savita, while Ireland goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran was a spectator for much of the half. India’s biggest chance to score arrived in the final quarter when India captain Rani drilled a penalty corner shot into the pads of McFerran before Elena Tice cleared the danger. It was the only penalty corner of a game, which always seemed destined to end in a shoot-out, and what a shoot-out it proved to be. McFerran, who has been one of the standout players at the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018, was sensational in the one-on-ones, denying India captain Rani and Navjot Kaur with wonderful saves while forcing Monika to shoot wide. McFerran’s goalkeeping heroics were capitalised on by Roisin Upton and Alison Meeke who both scored to make it advantage Ireland. Reena Khokhar kept India in the contest when she made the score 2-1, but Chloe Watkins made no mistake with a cool finish to trigger scenes of unrestrained joy from the Irish players, coaching staff and fans packed into the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre. “We just tried to go out and impose our style on India”, said elated Ireland international Elena Tice at the end of the match. “At times it wasn’t pretty and we could have taken a few more chances but we kept going. We wanted to put them under pressure from the start and go forward the entire game. At times it went okay and at times we were turned over but our defence is really tough. The defence is prepared to take the hits.” Referring to the atmosphere generated by the capacity crowd watching the action, Tice said: “It was absolutely unbelievable out there. It felt like it was all Ireland and when our legs began to ache, the crowd really got us going. We try to go into every game without fear. We are the underdog every time we play but we want to push on, become a top 10 team and expect to win.” Whilst it was not the outcome that India had desired, Head Coach Sjoerd Marijne felt that the experience gained in London will prove vital to their title challenge at the upcoming Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. “I think the girls will be proud of what they achieved so they will have lots of confidence [for the Asian Games]”, said Dutchman Marijne. “Now they don’t feel that, but they soon will. This has given them the experience of playing on the big stage, doing shoot-outs under high pressure. They will take all of that to the Asian Games.” The atmosphere in the stadium throughout the match between Pool A winners Netherlands and England, who had reached the quarter-finals after beating Korea in the cross-over play-offs on Tuesday, was absolutely electric. The home fans turned up in their thousands in the hope of witnessing England record what would be a famous victory over the reigning world champions, a team that had scored an incredible 26 goals in the three matches they had played ahead of this fixture. The Dutch were on fire in the opening period, putting the England defence under huge pressure. Caia van Maasakker issued a warning when she rattled England’s crossbar with a fierce penalty corner flick before 2015 Hockey Stars Player of the Year Lidewij Welten opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Xan de Waard was the creator, sending a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Welten who made no mistake with a first-time shot between the legs of Hinch. The relentless Dutch pressure continued in the second period, with Hinch again called into action before Susie Petty cleared a goal-bound shot off the line to keep the score at 1-0 going into half time. However, that all changed one minute after the break when the

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1 August 2018 Spain through to semi-finals against Ireland or Inda after late winner over Germany Australia win sets up date with Netherlands or England A new nation will be among the finalists London: The surprises just keep coming. This time it was Spain who claimed a higher ranked scalp at the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup, London 2018 as they beat Germany 1-0. “If you don’t score, you don’t win,” was the simple summing-up statement of a clearly hugely disappointed Head Coach Xavier Reckinger. In the second match, a marathon between two heavyweights in world hockey, Australia finally won out in the shoot-out to destroy Argentina’s hopes of winning a third World Cup. For Spain the 1-0 win means a first appearance in a World Cup semi-final since Madrid 2006. Then they faced Australia, losing 1-0 after extra time. This time they will face either India or Ireland. The result of that match means there will be a new nation guaranteed to be among the medals. In the first quarter final of the evening, Germany (FIH Hero World Ranking: 6) played their European rivals Spain, who are ranked five places lower. It was a game where the big names in each team really needed to step up and lead from the front. Marie Mävers was first to almost get on the score-sheet as she struck the ball across the face of Maria Ruiz’s goal. The German pressure was rewarded by a penalty corner in the third minute but Ruiz was equal to the challenge. It was not one way traffic however. While Germany were swinging the ball around and seeking opportunities to release their speedy forwards, Spain were always looking for their own opportunity to break. Berta Bonastre showed her tremendous ability as she reached to interrupt a German pass. Her subsequent pass was just out of reach of its intended target, Alicia Magaz, who was playing her hundredth match for Spain. This was a to-and-fro game with occasional bursts of exhilarating skill from individuals. One of the most exciting players at this World Cup has been Charlotte Stapenhorst and, again, she didn’t disappoint. Her run up the pitch, from deep inside her own defending area left a trail of defenders behind. Her shot, hit mid-height with venom, was well saved by Ruiz. Another player who has impressed throughout the tournament is Selin Oruz. Like Stapenhorst, she burst deep out of defence and was goal bound until a timely tackle from Rocio Gutierrez stopped her in her tracks. Janne Muller-Wieland used all her vast experience to prevent Miailen Garcia from entering the circle when a break down in the German attack left the world number six side exposed in defence. Where many people would have committed a foul in that position, Muller-Wieland’s tackle was as clinical as it was timely. In the final quarter, there was still no separating the teams. Spain were playing the more aggressive hockey and this prevented Germany playing their usual fast-moving game. Spain won their first penalty corner and Perez was very close to giving her team the lead. The decisive strike came in the 54th minute. Carmen Cano was the hero who put Spain through to the semi-finals of the World Cup after she cleverly batted a midair ball past Julia Ciupka. Spain then had to withstand six minutes of German pressure, something that was intensified when Carlota Petchame was sent from the field with a yellow card. A relieved but ecstatic Berta Bonastre said: “There were no stars out there today, we all played for each other. We have worked so long for this and all too often it is ‘we are making progress’, but tonight all our hard work paid off.” Charlotte Stapenhorst echoed her coach’s words when she spoke of the need to convert chances to goals. “Spain gave us no space to play our game, so we needed to take chances when we could. That didn’t happen tonight and then one moment of switching off and they scored. That is quarter-final hockey.” It took 60 minutes of hockey and a further 14 shoot-out attempts to discover who would be heading to the semi-finals and a meeting with the Netherlands or England. World number three team Argentina and the world number five team Australia have always been well-matched but in this quarter-final it seemed nothing could separate them. They have both won the World Cup twice, they have long occupied a place within the top five in the world, they both have iconic players in their glorious hockey history and neither side can stand losing. There is little to separate Australia and Argentina at the best of times and the quarter final of the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup was the best example of how neither team will ever give an inch. Australia’s defence over this World Cup has been good, only conceding three goals, while Argentina had been 135 minutes without conceding a goal, so scoring opportunities on the part of both teams was always going to be limited. In the first quarter, both teams were testing each other out, which made for a cagey and defensive first 15 minutes. There were forays into each other’s goals but on the whole neither Belen Succi or Rachael Lynch were called into action much. Australia always knew that scoring past Belen Succi and her defence would be a tough ask and so it proved. Just how defensive these two teams were playing is encapsulated in the statistics. By the end of 30 minutes of play, there had been two shots from Australia and four from Argentina. Neither side, aware of the threat of Australia’s Jodie Kenny and Argentina’s Noel Barrionuevo, had conceded any penalty corners. The second half saw both teams start to explore the attacking options a little less tentatively. Ambrosia Malone and Renee Taylor both had shots that tested the Leonas defence, while Delfina Merino, Agustina Albertarrio and the effervescent Maria Granatto all forced some brave defending from

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