Great Britain women played in their first ever world level event final last night when they met Argentina in the Champions Trophy in Rosario.
Progress through to the final had been a remarkably smooth affair, with GB coming second in their pool matches after wins over Japan and China, and a draw against The Netherlands. Korea had been beaten 4-1 in the quarter finals before GB met old rivals Germany in the semi-finals, inflicting a 2-0 defeat on them.
Facing a team like Argentina on their home soil was always going to be a daunting prospect, but the GB women looked confident on the field. It was their misfortune to have a very vocal home crowd supporting their opponents in the final and to find Argentine legend Luciana Aymar on top form. Aymar had a number of penetrating runs, but goalkeeper Beth Storry had an outstanding game and denied the Argentines several times.
The only goal of the match came just before half time when Silvina D'Elia's penalty corner strike was just beyond Storry's reach. Final score 1-0 to Agentina, but the GB girls can come home with their heads held high. Hopefully, when the teams next meet, Great Britain will have the home crowd behind them.
The bronze medal game between The Netherlands and Germany was quite a curtain raiser, with the Dutch taking an early 4-0 lead, only to get pegged back to 5-4. Haunted by the previous day's semi-final which saw them lose the shoot out after a last minute goal by Argentina, the match came to an tense climax but the Dutch managed to cling on to their lead 5-4 lead.
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