On the final day of the BDO Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Quilmes, the USA booked their first win to take fifth place, Ireland slipped past the Czech Republic with a golden goal for bronze, while Argentina wrestled down the Belgians for the last available ticket to Delhi.
Chile - USA 1:2 (0:0)
The classification matches in Quilmes started off with the battle for fifth place between Chile and the USA. While Chile had left the better impression over the whole tournament, the USA had put forward an impressive impression yesterday, forcing finalists Belgium to a draw, so there was no clear favorite.
In a match of equal opponents throughout the first half, neither team was able to build a significant advantage. The Chileans were the stronger team but suffered from a high number of individual mistakes, never able to quite put their game together today. The US on the other side put in another solid performance as they had yesterday against Belgium, playing concentratedly and putting forward a good team effort.
Paying the price for not using their opportunities better, Chile fell two goals behind in the second half when Pat Harris and Will Holt sank two penalty corners for the USA in a 15 minute period. In the last minute of the match, Chile finally broke the spell and got their consolation goal through Alfredo Thiermann, but it was too late: the US team finished fifth in this competition, leaving Chile with the red lantern.
Ireland - Czech Republic 1:1 (1:0) 2:1 AET
In a highly entertaining bronze medal match, Ireland then took on the Czech team to fight for third place. Ireland had advantages from the beginning, controlling the game more than the Czech could, and creating a string of dangerous situations. They could however not make their superiority count, for a large part thanks to outstanding Czech goalkeeper Filip Neusser who later in the day was presented with the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament award for his superior performances.
A 25th minute goal from David Ames that happened at the height of the Irish pressure, opening up a crack in the Czech defense, but the lone goal was all the Irish could manage in the first half. When the second half started, it was more of the same, with Ireland attacking and pushing for the second goal continuously, but wasting scres of chances, they ended up conceding a goal instead when a long ball into the circle found Stepan Bernatek in exactly the right place for the deflection.
With the scores now level, and the bronze medal in sight, both teams started playing more aggressively, and the Czech picked up a green and a yellow card in quick succession, but the Irish could not make use of an almost two-minute two-man advantage. Instead, the game headed for extra time, the two teams now fairly equal opponents after the Irish dominance in the early parts of the game, which eventually gave the Irish the opportunity to take victory, when Timothy Cockram wisely used a penalty corner for the golden goal that gave Ireland the bronze medal.
Argentina - Belgium 4:3 (0:2)
The final match of the tournament between Argentina and Belgium, the all-important fight for the last remaining ticket to Delhi, was an expectedly fiercely contested battle between two worthy teams.
Belgium worked their way to an early advantage when Cedric Charlier sunk a field goal in the 14th minute and Jeffrey Thys added another ten minutes later. Two goals up at the end of the first half, it looked like Belgium were going to run away with the match, but Argentina were not defeated just yet. With Pedro Ibarra sinking a penalty corner just after the break, Argentina first got on the scoreboard, only to see Jerome Dekeyser re-establishing the two goal lead ten minutes later.
A penalty stroke awarded to Argentina five minutes later turned the tide however, Pedro Ibarra displaying the same reliability as ever, which eventually made him the topscorer in the competition. Fuelled by the goal, Argentina played more and more offensively, attacking continuously, and getting in the equalizer a few minutes later.
With the scores level, it was all open battle between the two top teams in this competition, but to the great joy of the stadium-filling crowd at the Quilmes stadium, it was the Argentine team who edged the Belgians out for the elusive ticket to Delhi with a goal from Mario Almada eight minutes from the end. A fierce final phase of the game, in which both teams played their hearts out, saw no further goals, and the Argentineans erupted in cheers after having ended up defeated at bthe last three occasions it really mattered.
Argentina thus took voctory in the match and gold in the tournament, while Belgium took silver. Ireland ended up with Bronze, ahead of the Czech Republic, the USA and Chile. Individual awards were presented to Argentina for Fair Play, Pedro Ibarra of Argentina as the topscorer, Filip Neusser of the Czech Republic as Best Goalkeeper and Felix Denayer as Best Player.
Chile - USA 1:2 (0:0)
48min USA Pat HARRIS (PC)
64min USA Will HOLT (PC)
70min CHI Alfredo THIERMANN (PC)
Ireland - Czech Republic 1:1 (1:0) 2:1 AET
25min IRL David AMES (FG)
53min CZE Stepan BERNATEK (FG)
77min IRL Timothy COCKRAM (PC) - Golden Goal
Argentina - Belgium 4:3 (0:2)
14min BEL Cedric CHARLIER (FG)
25min BEL Jeffrey THYS (FG)
39min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PC)
48min BEL Jerome DEKEYSER (FG)
53min ARG Pedro IBARRA (PS)
57min ARG Lucas VILA (FG)
62min ARG Mario ALMADA (FG)
