Great Britain finish second in Pool A after defeating China
Pool A –CHN 1-3 GBR

Great Britain finish second in their group behind Netherlands on goal difference and will play the 3rd ranked team from Pool B. China finish third and will play the 2nd ranked team from Pool B.

Despite of heavy rainfall Great Britain started off with great pace. Their pressure on China led to an early penalty corner which was converted by specialist Crista Cullen (5’). Her drag flick caught the Chinese goalkeeper Zhang Lei’s pad and deflected into the goal. It was Cullen’s fourth goal in this competition making her top scorer. The 26 year old has also broken a record as she becomes the first player to score more than three goals at a single Champions Trophy tournament for Great Britain.

After China’s first promising attack, they used their team-referral because they were convinced that Tung Chunling had touched the ball inside the circle and scored. The video umpire could not make a decision on this. China kept their referral however the score of  0-1 stayed. The end of the first half did not see much action in either the circles.

Great Britain the second half with real fire and it was not long before Cullen (42’) put her name on the score sheet again. By converting another penalty corner she broke another record. Being on seven Champions Trophy career goals, she has overtaken staff-member Karen Brown who has scored six Champions Trophy goals in her career. China struck back when Fu Barong scored her first Champions Trophy goal since netting against Argentina in 2010. She is now on a competition total of 16 goals.

Great Britain maintained the pressure as they needed to beat China by at least three goals to top Pool A. Ashley Ball (54’) extended the lead to 3-1 before China created some opportunities but they failed to score from these.

Match Review 10. China - Great Britain 1-3

> GB finish second in their group behind Netherlands on goal difference and will play the 3rd ranked team from Pool B.
> China finish third and will play the 2nd ranked team from Pool B.
> Crista Cullen scored her 4th and 5th (PC) goal of the tournament, to go top of the goal scoring table.
> Crista Cullen is the first player to score more than 3 goals at a single CT tournament for either GB or England.
> Cullen is now on 7 CT career goals. She has broken the record for most CT career goals for England and /or Great Britain which was 6 by Karen Brown.
> Ashleigh Ball scored her first CT goal in 20 CT matches.
> Fu Barong scored her first CT goal since netting against Argentina in 2010. She is now on a competition total of 16 CT goals. The Chinese CT record is 19 goals by Ma Yibo.
> GB scored from 2 of 6 penalty corners in this match and are now on 5 from 13 in the tournament (38%).
> China failed to converts any of their 4 PC’s awarded in this match and are now on 2 for 11 at Rosario 2012 (18%).

Match Preview 10. China - Great Britain (January 31st, 3:00pm)

Head-to-Heads
> China and Great Britain have never met before in Champions Trophy competition.
> In 2000, GB beat China 1-0 in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Milton Keynes, ENG.
> In April 2010, China beat GB twice in a test series at Bisham Abbey (2-1 and 3-1).

China
> China picked up their first victory at Rosario 2012 beating Japan 2-1 after losing their opening match to Netherlands 3-1. In each of the last two CT editions (2010 and 2011), China won only 1 of 6 CT matches.
> So far, China have converted 2 of 7 PC’s awarded at Rosario 2012 (29%).
> China have conceded 1 of 7 penalty corners awarded against them.
> China are the highest ranked Asian team on the world ranking in fifth place. China dropped from 4th to 5th in 2011. Fifth place is their lowest rank since 2007.
> China make their fifth successive CT appearance and their 12th in total.
> China have failed to win a medal in their last 4 CT participations. Their last CT medal dates back to 2006 when they claimed silver losing 3-2 to Germany in the final.
> Since wining silver in 2006, China have dropped a spot every year finishing 4th in 2008, 5th in 2009, 6th in 2010 and 7th in 2011.
> China are the 2010 Asian Games Champions.
> China’s 3 goals so far at Rosario 2012 came from De Jiaojiao (PC), Ma Yibo (PC) and Zhao Yudiao.
> China's all-time top scorer in CT competition Ma Yibo is on 19 CT career goals. All of Ma Yibo's Champions Trophy goals came from penalty corners.
> Only four players have scored more CT goals than Ma Yibo, who is on 19: Nadine Ernsting-Krienke (22), Maartje Paumen (21), Jackie Pereira (21), Noel Barrionuevo (21) and Soledad Garcia (20).
> China’s Gao Lihua holds the record for most cards shown in Champions Trophy history. In 50 CT matches Gao received a total of 9 cards (3 yellow and 6 green).

Great Britain
> GB have scored 5 goals so far 2 field goals and 3 penalty corners goals.
> GB have converted 3 of 7 penalty corners awarded (42%, the highest percentage after Day 2).
> GB have conceded 0 of 8 penalty corners awarded to their opponents.
> GB make their first Champions Trophy appearance since 1997, when they were ranked 5th.
> GB’s best result came in 1989 when they were ranked 4th.
> England are currently ranked 4th on the FIH World Ranking.
> Helen Richardson and Alex Danson were selected in the 2011 FIH Women’s All Stars team.
> The players in the current GB squad have accumulated more than 2000 caps among them, making them the most experienced team present at Rosario 2012.
> Crista Cullen scored all 3 PC goals for GB and is top of the goal scoring list after Day 2.
> Alex Danson and Helen Richardson scored the other British goals.
> Crista Cullen and Rebecca Herbert are on 5 CT career goals. The record from most CT career goals for England and /or Great Britain is 6 by Karen Brown.
> Laura Barlett was named Great Britain Hockey Athlete of the Year in December 2011. She was also named Player of the Tournament at the 2011 Champions Challenge I in Dublin.