With seven of the eight quarter-final places confirmed, day five of the women’s Hockey World League Semi-Final in Valencia will see each side attempting to finish the pool phase on a high and secure a potentially more favourable knock-out game.
The action starts at 1pm (CET) with Great Britain looking to pin down top spot with a result against China who currently occupy fourth place. The Brits are the only side with a perfect record so far with three impressive wins, beating the hosts Spain 2-0, Argentina 2-0 and Canada 4-2.
Key to their success has been a mean defence, marshalled by Kate Richardson-Walsh, backed up by the ever-excellent Maddie Hinch. Up front, their attack has been feverish with the close-in poaching instincts of Sophie Bray – their top scorer with three goals – Georgie Twigg and Joie Leigh supreme in punishing uncleared corners.
GB’s last world level meeting with China saw them surprised 2-1 in London at the Olympic Games. That victory came with a smart, robust defensive performance and smart counter-attacks which, if replicated, can cause plenty of problems for Danny Kerry’s side.
The Chinese team will be looking to get back on track after back-to-back defeats to Spain and Argentina without scoring a goal. They did win plenty of corners against Las Leonas and Wang Mengyu will hope she can up her conversion rate.
Game Two of the day pits USA against Ireland in a battle for a top two finish in the group. The US have the form guide in their favour, recently beating Ireland a number of times in Pennsylvania in the warm-up to the Hockey World League semi-finals.
A repeat performance will mean the USA will finish the group unbeaten. Ireland, though, have proven tricky customers to date and, in Nikki Evans, they have the tournament’s top goalscorer.
Game three at 5pm sees South Africa facing Germany with the former needing to avoid a six goal or more defeat to take the final quarter-final berth. It has been tough so far for the world number 11 side in the absence of some top players and they have conceded late on in their three games, something they have identified as needing to change.
Should they lose 5-0, SA and Uruguay will go to a shoot-out to decide who finishes fourth place. Anything better than that will keep their Olympic flame alive. They face a German side who are the tournament top scorers so far with 13 goals from three games.
A healthy corner routine – with Hannah Kruger to the fore – and plenty of young forwards buzzing around up front means they are always a threat.
The day closes with Spain taking on Argentina in a tie sure to get the crowd going at 7pm. The Red Sticks have to go back to 2000 for their last win against Argentina at a world level event – a group game at the Olympics in Sydney – but they have been breaking barriers already this week.
Notably, they ended a nine-year wait for a tournament win over China. Berta Bonastre and Bea Perez have provided real purpose to their forward line and will be aiming to test Argentina’s defensive line.
Both teams are sitting on six points with the winner of this contest assured of finishing in the top two at least.
