Before the match against Argentina, Head Coach Jason Lee
told his team to give it more “oomph”.
Our dictionary defines ‘oomph’ as an ingredient that makes something
better or perfect and it was probably the factor which got England off to a
good start here in the Investec World League Semi Finals in London a week ago.
But as the week progressed, the “Oomph Factor” seemed to fade, particularly in
Thursday’s unimpressive display against Italy.
Last night in Chiswick it returned in bucketfuls.
Just to confuse the outside world, the match between England
and Argentina was the semi finals of the World League Semi Finals. The hockey world will be more confused by the
result. There are only two ranking
positions separating the two sides, but history has shown few examples of
England beating the Olympic silver medallists.
But last night was different.
Argentina helped to raise English hopes by gifting their
opponents an own goal after only twelve minutes, and 14 minutes later they were
back in the game with a goal from Carla Rebecchi. Was this the point at which they would start
their fight back? No it was not. Just
before half time Nicola White added a second goal for England and, four minutes
into the second half, Hannah Macleod found herself in a one-on-one with ‘keeper
Maria Aladro, which she neatly slotted past her.
It was now England’s turn to give goals away, with a 41st
minute own goal, but the margin was restored soon afterwards when Susannah
Townsend found the net from open play. Final score 2-4 to England, and England
are in today’s final against Australia.
When England play like this they are a remarkably unbeatable
team. As we’ve mentioned before, the new members of the squad have shown great
maturity and confidence. If they continue to grow like this, Jason Lee could
find himself in charge of the best England women’s team ever. They just need to
remember Thursday’s match against Italy – not their finest hour - to remain
grounded. As we’ve seen so many times before, it sometimes needs a poor game to
proceed an excellent one. This was an excellent one.
The surprise result of the whole week was not the outcome of
the match between England and Argentina, but the result of the game between South
Africa and Italy. Whilst the Italians, ranked 17th in the World,
have much to learn, their opportunity to have a crack at fifth place this afternoon
is amazing. Having finished yesterday’s game against South Africa in normal time at
1-1, they won the shoot-out 1-3.
Italy will play the USA in the fifth/sixth decider
today. Two goals in last ten minutes
gave the USA a 1-3 win over Spain.
England’s opponents this afternoon, Australia, comprehensively
beat China yesterday with a 1-4 win. The
performance of China has been disappointing in this tournament, but Australia –
who are in the process of rebuilding – have looked good. England and Australia drew 1-1 in the pool,
and it should be an exciting match.
In the Men’s World League in Johor, Malaysia, both pools
remain static after the first round of matches all ended in draws.
The most surprising result was the draw between Olympic Champions,
Germany, and Argentina. The hero of the hour was Gonzalo Peillat, whose 61st
minute penalty strike for Argentina resulted in the match ending 1-1.
England were rocked on their heals in their Pool B match
against South Africa, after Julian Hykes scored twice in five minutes to give
the South Africans a 0-2 lead. When
England did score, it was from an own goal. Ben Arnold scored an equaliser for
England mid-way through the second half, but the South Africans re-took the
lead from a penalty corner in the last five minutes courtesy of Timothy
Drummond. It was in the dying seconds that England grabbed a draw, thanks to a
penalty corner conversion from Richard Smith.
We are posting results from both tournaments as they are
received on this blog. Photographs from
London are posted regularly on our Pictures web site at www.HockeyImages.co.uk.
