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

July 15, 2017 Johannesburg, South Africa: Four continental derbies took centre stage on on a sold-out Day 8 of the Hockey World League Semi-Finals at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand, with Spain, Australia, Egypt and Germany all claiming crucial wins in the men’s competition. In the first of the regional head-to-heads, Spain (FIH Hero World Ranking: 10) were given a stern test by France (WR: 17) before emerging 2-0 winners in Pool A to move onto six points and remain in the hunt for a top of the table finish. The Red Sticks – coached by former France international Frederic Soyez – had to wait until the end of the third quarter before Pau Quemada scored from the penalty spot, with Enrique Gonzalez adding a second after France had replaced their goalkeeper with an outfield player in search of an equaliser. While Spain were worthy winners, France showed yet again that they are capable of competing with the best, having gone through a tough pool phase without being outclassed by any of their opponents. That said, France now have to wait until the completion of the pool phase on Monday (17 July) before knowing their final placement and who they will face in the cross-over quarter-finals. “We are pretty disappointed about the result today”, said France’s Guillaume Deront, who reached the milestone of 100 international appearances in the contest. “Our pool was very tough and we are sure to play a tough opponent in the quarter-finals, but we have played well here and we will do our best.” The second match of the day was also in Pool A, with reigning world champions Australia (WR: 2) battling back from a goal down to beat New Zealand (WR: 8) in the Oceania derby. It was a third win in succession for the Kookaburras, who now need just one point in their final pool match against Japan to confirm their place at the top of the standings and set up a quarter-final contest with the team that finishes fourth in Pool B. The Black Sticks held their own against the higher-ranked Australians throughout the match, taking the lead when Jared Panchia bundled home from close range after the Kookaburras defence failed to deal with a searching Hayden Phillips’ cross from the right. However, for the second time in the competition, Australia scored twice in the final quarter to claim all three points with a ferocious Jeremy Edwards’ backhand finding the roof of the net before an outstanding final minute penalty corner drag-flick from Jeremy Hayward gave Australia all three points. “It was a tough match, New Zealand came out pretty hard and had the number on us for most of the game so we we pretty lucky to sneak the win”, said goal-scorer Hayward post match. “It feels good to be sitting at the top of the pool but we need to perform in our next match against Japan before we look to our quarter-final.” In Pool B, the home fans turned up in their thousands to watch South Africa (WR: 15) in action against Egypt (WR: 19), but the team from north Africa spoiled the party by taking a 2-1 victory. Egypt went into the contest knowing that only a win would be enough for them to have any chance of reaching the competition quarter-finals, which in turn would keep the World Cup and World League Final qualification dream alive. After 29 minutes without a goal, two came along in quick succession with Houssam Ghobran’s clever reverse flick putting Egypt ahead before Daniel Sibbald levelled for the home side just before half time. Ghobran netted a second before the end of the third quarter, which proved to be the winner despite Egypt playing most of the fourth quarter with nine players due to yellow card suspensions. South Africa threw everything they had at their opponents, but found goalkeeper Wael Noureldin in inspired form to give his side a vital win. Egypt captain Ahmed Ezz was understandably delighted with his team’s performance. “I think this is a good win for us, to beat South Africa here. We didn’t start the competition very well but we have been getting better and nearly got there against Ireland, but today we did it and it is a good three points for us.” The day’s final match was arguably the best of the four, with Belgium and Germany showing exactly why they are two of the world’s best teams in a contest of great skill, intensity and high energy. Die Honamas ended up taking a 3-2 win over the Red Lions, putting themselves three points clear at the top of Pool B ahead of the final round of pool matches on Monday. Marco Miltkau gave Germany the lead on the stroke of half time before a brilliant solo effort from Arthur van Doren tied the scores early in the third period. Simon Gougnard scored one of the best goals of the day, receiving an overhead pass before volleying past Germany goalkeeper Tobias Walter to give Belgium a lead that would last just three minutes, with Lukas Windfeder’s penalty corner making the score 2-2 going into the final quarter. Germany’s winner arrived six minutes from full time, with Dieter Linnekogel getting a crucial touch on a speculative pass into the Belgian circle, while shot-stopper Walter produced a stunning acrobatic save in the dying seconds to guarantee victory for Die Honamas. “We had a great defence today and were good on the counter-attacks”, said Germany goalkeeper Tobias Walter after the match, before discussing his match winning save that arrived in the final seconds. “It is always a bit lucky when you save one of these [shots], maybe 20 or 10 seconds before the end of the game. I think it is lucky.” On Sunday 16th July, the final four matches of the women’s pools will take place to decide the line up for the quarter-finals. Japan and Germany take to the field for their Pool A contest

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