China have claimed their place in the final of the Hockey World League Semi-Final – and a berth at the 2016 Olympics – after grinding out a victory over Champions Trophy holders and world number three Argentina.
Wang Mengyu provided two vicious penalty corner strikes to fire China through to the final after a match that saw Las Leonas unable to make many incisive moves and China defending with real intent.
Wang said afterwards it was an “awesome feeling” to qualify for the Games, especially as her side have rarely beaten Las Leonas.
“In my time with the team, we have never won a match against Argentina. This is our first time and I am very happy we have done it at last and in such a brilliant occasion, to win an Olympic place.”
China over-turned Argentina who had earlier led via a corner of their own from Carla Rebecchi in the 24th minute in a game where chances were few and far between. China, for the most part, laid a compact base and launched overheads from the back to try and use their swift forwards.
In defence, their tackling and protection of their own circle was immense, with Cui Quixia getting through a wealth of work, frustrating the threats of Delfina Merino and Rebecchi from open play for the most part.
It meant Las Leonas got little traction in the first half until they earned a flurry of penalty corners around the 25 minute mark. From one of those, Rebecchi nailed a low flick past Li Dongxiao. Wang equalised, though, within a few minutes with a rocket of her own down the glove side for 1-1 at half-time.
And, as time went on and despite a deficit in terms of possession, China created the cleaner chances. Florencia Habif being called upon to make an amazing save from a Xi Xiayun volley.
China made the decisive breakthrough when they earned one last corner with four minutes remaining. Wang, once again, got everything behind it and Belen Succi was powerless to keep it out and the goal was enough to put China in Sunday’s final.
Carla Rebecchi said she was "very unhappy" with her team's performance, but conceded that China's strategy had been the perfect answer to Argentina's attacking ability.
"It was hard for us to get into the match, they defended all over the pitch and we were unable to take our chances when they fell to us. That was the difference today, on other occasions we can usually be relied on to create opportunities to score. Today, we didn't stop penalty corners and we didn't make the chances today."
