On Saturday 29 June, the winners of the inaugural women’s FIH Pro League competition will be decided. World champions the Netherlands, who battled back from a goal down to defeat Germany 2-1 in their semi-final on Thursday (27 June), take on Australia’s Hockeyroos, who reached the final thanks to a shoot-out win over Argentina.
The high-flying Dutch will be strong favourites, but Australia are in form and remain the only team to beat the Netherlands in this season’s FIH Pro League. With the Dutch being coached by former Australian international and double Olympic gold medallists Alyson Annan, it is a contest packed with numerous side stories. With a capacity crowd set to fill the Wagener Stadium, it will be fascinating to see who prevails.
The final takes place at 1700 Central European Summer Time (CEST - UTC/GMT+2), shortly after the completion of the battled for third place that will see Germany and Argentina going head to head at 1430. Information and quotes from the teams competing in both matches can be found below, with a complete list of fixtures for the competition available here.
3-4 Play-Off: Germany vs Argentina - 1430 CEST (UTC/GMT+2)
Previous FIH Pro League meetings
22 February 2019: Argentina 2-2 Germany (4-3 after shoot-out) - Cenard, Buenos Aires (ARG)
22 May 2019: Germany 1-2 Argentina - Crefelder HC, Krefeld (GER)
Germany
FIH World Ranking: 5
Position in regular FIH Pro League season: 4th
FIH Pro League results summary (regular season): Pl: 16 Wins: 9 Draws: 2 SO-Bonus: 0 Losses: 5 GF: 34 GA: 24 GD: 10 Pts: 29
Notable honours: Olympic gold medallists (2004), 2x Olympic silver medallists (1984, 1992), Olympic bronze medallists (2016), 2x World Champions (1976, 1981), 2x European champions (2007, 2013), Champions Trophy gold medallists (2006).
Player Perspective - Janne Müller-Wieland (GER): “We’ve had two close games against Argentina, one a shoot-out and one where we lost in the very last minute, so we have to do something better than last time I think. We are looking forward to playing them, they are a very tough team to play, very skilful but very different to Holland, so we are going to recover, prepare for Argentina and then hopefully get the bronze.”
FIH Pro League Team Page: https://www.fihproleague.com/women/teams/germany__4873 Website: www.hockey.de Twitter: @diedanas Facebook: diedanas Instagram: diedanas
Argentina
FIH World Ranking: 4
Position in regular FIH Pro League season: 2nd
FIH Pro League results summary (regular season): Pl: 16 Wins: 10 Draws: 4 SO-Bonus: 4 Losses: 2 GF: 31 GA: 15 GD: 16 Pts: 38
Notable honours: 2x World Cup winners (2002, 2010), 2x Olympic silver medallists (2000, 2012), 2x Olympic bronze medallists (2004, 2008), Hockey World League champions (2015), 7x Champions Trophy winners (2001, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016), 6x Pan-American Games gold medallists (1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007), 5x Pan-American Cup winners (2001, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2017).
Player Perspective - Agustina Albertarrio (ARG): “I think [the semi-final against Germany] was a hard game and we deserved to win, but now we have to look forward to the [bronze medal] game. We really want to win this for our fans back home."
FIH Pro League Team Page: https://www.fihproleague.com/women/teams/argentina__4865 Website: www.cahockey.org.ar Twitter: @ArgFieldHockey Facebook: ArgFieldHockey Instagram: arg_fieldhockey
Final: Netherlands vs Australia - 1700 CEST (UTC/GMT+2)
Previous FIH Pro League meetings
22 February 2019: Australia 1-0 Netherlands - State Netball & Hockey Centre, Melbourne (AUS)
23 June 2019: Netherlands 3-1 Australia - Wagener Hockey Stadium, Amsterdam (NED)
Netherlands
FIH World Ranking: 1
Position in regular FIH Pro League season: 1st
FIH Pro League results summary (regular season): Pl: 16 Wins: 15 Draws: 0 SO-Bonus: 0 Losses: 1 GF: 41 GA: 10 GD: 31 Pts: 45
Notable honours: 3x Olympic gold medallists (1984, 2008, 2012), 2x Olympic silver medallists (2004, 2016), 3x Olympic bronze medallists (1988, 1996, 2000), 8x World Cup winners (1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2014, 2018), 2x Hockey World League champions (2012-14, 2016-17), 7x Champions Trophy winners (1987, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2018), 9x European champions (1984, 1987, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011, 2017).
Player Perspective - Eva de Goede (NED): “We are really looking forward to it, especially in this stadium in front of our home crowd, so I cannot wait until Saturday and play a good game against Australia.”
FIH Pro League Team Page: https://www.fihproleague.com/women/teams/netherlands__4868 Website: www.knhb.nl Twitter: OranjeHockey Facebook: OranjeHockey Instagram: OranjeHockey
Australia
FIH World Ranking: 3
Position in regular FIH Pro League season: 3rd
FIH Pro League results summary (regular season): Pl: 16 Wins: 9 Draws: 2 SO-Bonus: 1 Losses: 5 GF: 35 GA: 23 GD: 12 Pts: 30
Notable honours: 3x Olympic gold medallists (1988, 1996, 2000), 2x FIH World Cup winners (1994, 1998), 3x World Cup silver medallists (1990, 2006, 2014), Hockey World League silver medallists (2012-13 Edition), 6x FIH Champions Trophy gold medallists (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003), 4x Oceania champions (1999, 2001, 2005, 2013, 2015), 4x Commonwealth Games gold medallists (1998, 2006, 2010, 2014), 4x Commonwealth Games gold medallists (1998, 2006, 2010, 2014).
Player Perspective - Brooke Peris (AUS): “Whoever we play, Germany or the Dutch, it’s going to be a great weekend. It’s been a long six months and I’m sure that the teams will be ready for this game. We are excited for it. We have such a great group, we’ve been training so hard for the past six months and every game we’ve got better and better and we keep fighting. At the weekend we are going to fight for the win, and if we win it, all the girls can take credit for it, the whole squad.”
FIH Pro League Team Page: https://www.fihproleague.com/women/teams/australia__4869 Website: www.hockey.org.auTwitter: @hockeyroos Facebook: thehockeyroos Instagram: @hockeyaustraliaofficial
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