The one–month mark for the 2012 Games has come and gone and the participating Olympic teams are in the final stages of getting ready for the big show. This week’s International Hockey Round-up takes a look at some of the series between the teams that will soon be packing their bags for London.
The Dutch men are getting used to the London weather and food ahead of time. They are playing two test games against Olympic host, Great Britain. The Dutch won the first game, 2-1. More important for the Dutch than the victory was the return of Teun de Nooijer who hadn’t played since the last match of the regular Dutch season on May 6. He missed the Dutch play-offs and the EHL Finals as well as six weeks of preparations due to a foot injury and achilles problems.
The New Zealand men were guests in Cairns last weekend but suffered a clean sweep at the hands of the World Number 1 Australia. After hefty 6-1 defeat on Friday, the Black Sticks were never able to quite catch up and conceded Saturday's and Monday's clashes 5-1 and 4-1. The final test was also a special occasion for London bound New Zealand goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex who celebrated his 150th cap after making his debut with the Black Sticks in 2001.
The ERGO Masters in Düsseldorf saw the German men emerge as the clear winners after topping Spain 6-3 and the Dutch 3-2 and tying the Belgian Red Lions, 3-3. The results put Germany on top of the podium with seven points, ahead of Belgium in second place who lost 0-3 to the Netherlands, but wrestled down Spain for a 1-0 final day victory. The Netherlands finished in third place, ahead of a slightly disappointing Spanish team on goal difference.
In Pan American action, the American and Argentina women’s closed their four-game series in the U.S. last Saturday. The last match ended with a 2-2 tie, with Noel Barrionuevo scoring both goals for the World Champions, while Melissa Gonzalez and Paige Selenski found the net for the hosts.
The Dutch women were also busy as they wrapped up a series against China last weekend. After two lopsided defeats in the first two matches (1-4 and 0-5), China came closer in Game 3 with a 2-5 final score last Saturday, had their best showing in a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The German women are entering the final stages of their preparations for London, starting a week-long camp in Worms and Mainz. Apart from training and the official uniform presentation, the team will be playing three test matches against the Belgian women, scheduled for tomorrow Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.
South Africa’s women are currently in a three-week camp at home and are travelling to Europe shortly. They will be facing the Netherlands in two test matches on Thursday and Friday before travelling to London for two test matches against Great Britain and Germany for the Bremen 4 Nations event the week after.
Finally, the South Africa men are competing in the Celtic Cup this weekend, held at Lisnagarvey HC in Northern Ireland. Their first encounter with the Irish guests brought an unexpected 4-2 loss after which head coach Gregg Clark commented "Statistically, we won the game in every department apart from on the scoreboard. We played really well in patches, our structures worked, we created the chances we needed to win the game, but we made some really bad errors which hurt us." Clark remained confident however and predicted that South Africa should win their next two matches. "I would be really disappointed if we didn't win the next two games," he said. South Africa plays Wales on Saturday and Scotland on Sunday. South Africa and Ireland will meet again next weekend in Dublin, when the two are joined by Belgium for a 3 Nations meet.
