Netherlands and Argentina won their third game on Thursday in Singapore. With nine points they cannot finish the round-robin worse than 4th anymore which means they definitely play off in a medal match. The Netherlands beat New Zealand 1-0 in a very competitive match, Argentina defeated Ireland 3-0 and South Africa lost 1-3 to Korea.Tomorrow Korea play Ireland, a game both need to win to keep their chances open for a spot in a medal match. Moreover South Africa face New Zealand and the unbeaten teams from Argentina and the Netherlands compete.
Girls team of the Netherlands wrestle down New Zealand 1-0 in a great game
Winning their third match in this competition the Netherlands are already qualified for one of Tuesday’s medal matches. The game winning goal was scored by Marloes KEETELS in the 59th minute.
Thursday’s last match was the most promising match of the day: The two unbeaten teams from the Netherlands and New Zealand took on each other. The Seng Kang Hockey Stadium was very crowded as a lot of people did not want to miss this encounter. The spectators enjoyed a very competitive first half: The young Black Sticks needed some time to get used to the physical play of the Dutch girls. Tournament top scorer Frederique DERKX had the first opportunity to score but her penalty corner shot was denied by goalkeeper Georgia BARNETT. The European under 16 Champions penetrated the circle more often than the Black Sticks in the first 35 minutes. New Zealand ran a few counter-attacks but could not put their name on the score board either. The probably biggest chance in the first half was Roos BROEK’s when she lost her one-on-one against the goalkeeper 13 seconds before the halftime whistle.
Netherlands won another penalty corner at the beginning of the second half but its stop failed completely. They rolled the pressure on and kept New Zealand’s defence busy. The tied score made the Dutch girls nervous and playing more hectically. It took up to the 59th minute until the Netherlands put their dominance on the score board. Team-captain Marloes KEETELS scored out of open play. Goalie Georgia BARNETT has already saved twice before but nobody was able to knock the ball away from danger. KEETELS picked it up and pushed it into the goal. New Zealand tried to fight back but did not succeed.
Netherlands v New Zealand 1-0 (0-0)
1-0 59’ Marloes KEETELS (PC)
Argentine girls secured spot in a medal game after defeating Ireland 3-0
Argentina won all their three matches so far and cannot finish the round-robin worse than 4th anymore. This means that they will definitely compete in a medal match on coming Tuesday. Ireland still play Korea and South Africa and need to win both matches to keep their chances open to participate at least in the Bronze medal match.
The Irish girls who started with two unlucky defeats into the Youth Olympic Games faced unbeaten Argentina today. Ireland played enthusiastically and wanted to score an early goal but Kathryn MULLAN missed a great opportunity at the beginning of the match. Ireland performed very well and gave their opponents as less space as possible. However Argentina managed to win control of the game in the middle of the first half. Jenna HOLMES, the Irish goalkeeper, showed an outstanding performance today. She saved many Argentine attempts and kept the score 0-0 tied. She was defated only once in the first half: Agustina ALVAREZ converted the rebound coming off HOLMES’s pads at a penalty corner. Argentina missed to extend their lead afterwards.
The second half was dominated by the young Las Leonas who were still in trouble to defeat the strong playing Jenna HOLMES in the Irish goal. Rocio BROCCOLI smashed a penalty corner into the bottom right and doubled the lead in the 44th minute. Although Ireland seemed exhausted they did not give up fighting but the Argentine girls defended in a clever way and kept Ireland from scoring. 28 seconds before the final whistle Eugenia GARRAFO converted a penalty corner and made the result 3-0.
Ireland v Argentina 0-3 (0-1)
0-1 25' Agustina ALVAREZ (FG)
0-2 44' Rocio BROCCOLI (PC)
0-3 70' Eugenia GARRAFO (PC)
Korean girls take their first win in Youth Olympic Games
Korea beat South Africa 3-1 in Thursday’s first match. While the three won points bring Korean hopes back to participate in one of Tuesday’s medal matches, South Africa suffered their third defeat.
Both participants had lost their first two matches in the Youth Olympic Games and needed a victory in today’s encounter to keep their chances open to play in one of Monday’s medal matches. The game started off slowly as both teams did not want to risk much. However Korea took the early lead when NAM So Ri was not attacked on her strong run towards goal. She had time to look what the goalkeeper is doing and decided to lift the ball over diving Zimisele SHANGE. South Africa’s biggest chance to equalise was a penalty corner in the 13th which was awarded after Jacinta JUBB was tackled. Afterwards SHANGE kept South Africa in when she saved a one-on-one against KANG Jina. Korea doubled the lead with a bit of good fortune when KIM Sol’s penalty corner shot was deflected by a South African runner into the goal. Just before halftime nobody marked PARK Juhui in the circle; she received the ball and made it 3-0.
The spectators saw a quiet beginning of the second half with advantages on the South African side. The South African girls started to take control of the game while Korea seemed tired. South Africa deserved scoring their first goal in this tournament. Afterwards they created more great opportunities but missed to benefit from them. Korea had four more great chances during the last five minutes of play but all of them were saved brilliantly by goalkeeper SHANGE.
Korea v South Africa 3-1 (3-0)
1-0 8' NAM So Ri (FG)
2-0 21' KIM Sol (PC)
3-0 32' PARK Juhui (FG)
3-1 58' Jacinta JUBB (FG)
The FIH tournament micro site http://www.worldhockey.org/yog/ will be bringing you extensive coverage of all the action from the first Youth Olympic Games. The site will provide all official information and news from the tournament, keeping you fully up-to-date with the latest scores and league tables. The site will also include written match previews and reports, action photos, video interviews and much more. Photos of the opening ceremony are provided as well.
