Photo from Daniel Carson in Rosario. England's Laura Unsworth in an enounter with Argentina's Luciana Aymar in their final pool match.There was no getting away from it. Argentina's run in the pool stages of the World Cup in Rosario was such that the outcome of the match between England and Argentina could have been quite different. A goal in each half, the first an almost inevitable penalty corner from Noel Barrionuevo and the second from Daniela Sruoga, mean that the hosts have won maximum points in Pool B. For England the result means that they finish second in the pool but it is an honourable defeat against a side that coach Danny Kerry believes is currently the best in the world.
England will almost certainly play The Netherlands on Thursday in the semi-finals. The final matches in Pool A are played today and The Netherlands look unlikely to drop a point and will top the table.
The matches in Pool B saw China inflict a massive 6-0 defeat on Spain, with Yibo Ma scoring four times from penalty corners. The other scorers were Honhxia Li and Baorong Fu.
The match between Korea and South Africa was a bit of a tussle with South Africa holding a 3-1 lead until the 55th minute. Three penalty corners in six minutes reversed the lead and a 67th minute goal left the Koreans as 5-3 winners. This result emphasises the importance of the draw between Spain and Korea earlier in the week. A win for Korea would have placed them in second place.
All England's results and full pool tables can be found on our main site at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk.
