Netherlands looking to retain title after beating Australia in shoot out
Ireland are lowest ranked team to ever contest World Cup final
Spain and Australia to compete for bronze
The second lowest ranked team in the competition will take on the world number one team and reigning champions in a fascinating final of the Vitlaity Hockey Women’s World Cup.
After a World Cup that has been full of surprises, Ireland and Netherlands will face each other to decide who wins the blue riband event.
The bronze medal match will be a contest between the 2014 silver medallists and Oceania Champions Australia and Spain, who are ranked 11th in the FIH Hero World Rankings.
In the opening match on semi-final day, two teams and two managers who know each other well played off for the chance to make history for their respective nations.
Spain’s best World Cup result to date is a fourth place in 2006, while Ireland had only won three games in their World Cup history. Whatever happens from here on in, both nations have played their part in making this the World Cup of surprises.
“Both teams have great spirit and it is a real shame that one team won’t make it to the final,” said Adrian Lock, Head Coach of Spain.
Sixty minutes and a tense shoot out later and it was Graham Shaw’s Ireland who made it through to the final of the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup.
Ireland have been re-writing hockey history since they arrived in London and were the first team to make it through to the quarter-finals. They have also been re-writing the script: “We only created that penalty corner routine a few days ago,” revealed Shaw, talking about the goal that gave his team the lead. “We were going to use it against India but we didn’t win a penalty corner to use it.”
In the match, the Green Army started the sharper, playing with the energy and confidence that has been core to their performance throughout the World Cup. They won a penalty corner just three minutes into the game after captain Kathryn Mullan fired a speculative pass into the Spain circle.
That ball struck a Spanish foot to win the corner. Shirley McCay’s strike was deflected by Anna O’Flanagan through the pads of Maria Ruiz in the Spain goal to give the Green Army an early lead.
With a minute to go in the quarter, Spain were just starting to play their game. Rocio Gutierrez wove some magic up the right of the pitch, slipping the ball to Carola Salvatella, who was unlucky to tip the ball just around the corner of the goal.
“We are definitely not going to sit back and consolidate,” said Graham Shaw at the quarter break. “It’s not something we are very good at, we want to go out and score as many goals as we can.”
Spain had other plans though, as they continued where they left off, piling pressure on the Ireland defence.
Xantal Gine nearly scored the most audacious goal of the competition as she chopped the ball backwards through her legs. Fortunately for Ireland the move was seen by Ayeisha McFerran in the Ireland goal and she reacted swiftly to clear the danger.
Deirdrie Duke was unlucky not to put her team two ahead after Nicola Daly and O’Flanagan worked the ball swiftly down the Irish right hand side of the pitch. McCay touched the ball to Duke but her shot flew just wide.
Ireland won their third penalty corner of the game when Nicola Evans put in a shift in the Spanish circle to force the ball onto a Spanish player’s foot. The shot was chased down but the Irish will be pleased to have instigated an attack after an onslaught by their opponents for most of the quarter.
The wonderful stick skills of the Spanish players was very much in evidence as the Red Sticks tightened their grip on the game in the second half. Desperately trying to find the equaliser, the Spanish players probed at the Irish defence.
The breakthrough came as Georgina Oliva played in a pass that found Perez. The energetic forward dodged the Irish sticks and found Alicia Magaz, who made no mistake as she slotted the ball past McFerran – only the third goal the ‘keeper had conceded all tournament, except in shoot out situations.
The final 10 minutes saw Spain really preventing Ireland from playing. Georgina Oliva was controlling the centre of the pitch and her clever passes were constantly putting the Irish defence under pressure. The excellent Shirley McCay rallied her team, receiving a ball in the face for her efforts. She brushed that off and continued to urge her team forwards.
Oliva was sent off with a green card and this was a crucial loss to Spain as the diminutive midfielder had been at the epicentre of all Spain’s attacking play.
The drama intensified as Ireland won a penalty corner in the final two minutes. Ruiz was unable to save the shot but, fortunately for the ‘keeper, Gutierrez was on hand to clear the ball out.
And so to shoot out. These two teams had both won shoot outs earlier in the competition, with Spain beating Belgium and Ireland defeating India. The psychological advantage of having won a shoot out was a little nullified by the fact both teams now had knowledge of each other’s shoot out tactics.
In an attempt to do the unexpected, Head Coach Shaw changed his shoot out line up and Gillian Pinder stepped up to take on Ruiz. Pinder showed nerves of steel to flick over Ruiz and get Ireland off to the best of starts.
Next up was Begona Garcia, who found herself in the unenviable position of facing the hugely talented McFerran. As so often, McFerran won out as Garcia shot wide.
O’Flanagan, Perez, and Upton all missed, but Oliva made no mistake as she shot home to bring the scores level.
Chloe Watkins put Ireland back ahead but the most audacious shoot out goal, particularly in light of the pressured situation, was scored by Lola Riera, who lobbed the ball over McFerran’s head.
With the scores all equal, the match went to sudden death. McFerran pulled off a magnificent save using her stick to pull the ball out of midair and then it was all on Pinder’s shoulders to put her team through to the final. As the entire stadium held its breath, Pinder coolly slotted home and Ireland were through.
“What a feeling. I didn’t think this would happen. What a group of people, just shows what can happen when the right people come together. The sport has been phenomenal, people have made the journey here.”
A speechless Elena Tice could only say “It was unbelievable.”
“Once she gathered her composure she said: “In every single game we have battled tooth and nail. We have executed our goals when it mattered, defended our goal when it mattered. We just said in this tournament it was important that we defended from the front.”
“We are a young team and we have had to learn quickly. Our forwards set the tone with their energy and our midfield team are so hard working. We are the under dog in every game and in every game it is like we have won the World Cup.”
“We are going to fight tooth and nail tomorrow as well. The last bit of our soul will be out on the pitch tomorrow.”
Netherlands and Australia entered their semi-final encounter undefeated with the world number one side, The Netherlands, sailing serenely through, scoring 28 goals and conceding just two. Australia (WR:5), by contrast, had won only one match in regulation time and their quarter-final match against Argentina had been won on shoot out.
But Australia are a team that will always rise to the occasion and so it proved this time. Under the cosh for much of the middle of the game, Australia have their goalkeeper Rachael Lynch to thank for the fact they were still in contention when, seven minutes from time, Georgina Morgan scored her first penalty corner goal of the competition, to send the match to shoot out.
Three penalty corners in the opening five minutes of the game was the sign that the Hockeyroos had no intention of letting the Netherlands dominate this match in the same way they had all their previous games. Unfortunately for Paul Gaudoin’s side, Jodie Kenny’s fearsome penalty corner strike was slightly below par and the Netherlands defence was let off the hook.
As the quarter progressed, so the Netherlands began to take the upper hand and put their opponents under increasing pressure. This was rewarded when Kelly Jonker was able to slam the ball home after some great work by Lidewij Welten to first get round the defence and then to find her team mate.
The Netherlands also had a number of penalty corner opportunities, but Caia van Maasakker’s shots were all well dealt with by Rachael Lynch who, despite conceding a goal, was having a great game in the Australian goal.
The second half saw a much more even split of pressure with the Netherlands unable to extend their lead but the Hockeyroos just not able to deal a killer blow.
The equaliser came with just seven minutes left on the clock. Paul Gaudoin’s team had come out for the final 15 minutes with a renewed energy and suddenly the Dutch began to look a little shaky.
Emily Hurtz was the first to rattle the Oranje although her final shot was easily dealt with by Josine Koning, who had replaced Anne Veenendaal in the Netherlands goal.
The breakthrough came when Georgina Morgan stepped up and shot home with pinpoint precision after an excellent speedy injection by Kathryn Slattery.
Lidewij Welten had a chance to make it 2-1 but, unusually for the striker, she shot wildly over the top.
In the ensuing shoot out, Frederique Matla, Xan de Waard and Welten were all on target, while only Kristina Bates was able to score for Australia.
The result means Australia will play Spain for the bronze medal, while Netherlands take on Ireland.
“The Australia goalkeeper was very good but we should have finished it in the match, we created enough chances,” said Lidewij Welten.
“We weren’t good enough in the circle,” said Alyson Annan. “We have had to work hard to score goals in the quarter finals and semi finals but that is right.
“I just try to give the players the information to be able to play the game but our performance tonight is not good enough to win the World Cup,” added the coach.
Results
Spain v Ireland 0-0 (Ireland win 3-1 on shoot out)
Netherlands v Australia 1-1 (Netherlands win 3-1 on shoot out)
