Great Britain’s men’s already slim chances of getting into the medal stages of the Olympic Hockey tournament took another downward spiral this afternoon when Australia and the Netherlands ended their match on a 2-2 draw, with all the goals coming in the last fifteen minutes of the match. This leaves both teams on 10 points, with Australia’s goal difference on +17 and Netherlands on +8. In order to finish second in the pool, Great Britain, who are on 7 points, would have to win their match against Australia on Tuesday by a healthy margin and hope that Pakistan can do the same against the Netherlands. GB’s goal difference has crept up to +3 but is still well behind the leaders.
South Africa’s Austin Smith won an achievement of sorts in their match against Pakistan. His 31st minute equaliser was South Africa’s first goal of the tournament but it was not enough to stop his side going down 3-1.
In Pool B China picked up their first point by drawing 2-2 against New Zealand. Indeed, they spent 54 minutes of the match in the lead before Shea McAleese scored his side’s second of the match. Germany move into second place after a 1-0 win over leader’s Spain, the goal coming from Moritz Furste just before the break. Korea beat Belgium 3-1 this morning to remain in touch with the leaders.
Full results and tables are on our main web site at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk.
Great Britain’s women play their final pool match tomorrow at 11:00 BST. Their opponents are the USA, who are fourth in Pool B, two points behind GB. The two leaders in the pool have comparatively easy games – Germany play Japan and Argentina play New Zealand – but it would only take a slip up by one of these sides to let Britain in to a semi-final place. GB will go into their match with the benefit of the result of the Germany v Japan match.
