FIH Women’s Olympic Qualifiers: Germany, Japan secure semifinal berths

Germany and Japan booked their spots in the semifinals of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Stadium here on Tuesday with comfortable wins over the Czech Republic and Chile, respectively, in their final Group A matches.

World No. 5 Germany registered the biggest win of the competition as it thrashed Czech Republic, a team ranked 20 placed lower, 10-0. The Czech team, despite facing six Penalty Corners, finished the first quarter without conceding a goal for the first time in three matches.

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However, the resistance did not last long. Die Danas earned Germany’s seventh PC four minutes into the second quarter. Anne Schroder, playing her 200th match, injected the ball before skipper Nike Lorenz hit the drag flick towards the centre. While Czech goalkeeper Barbora Cechakova blocked that attempt, the rebound fell to her left where Charlotte Stapenhorst made no mistake in finding the back of the net. Three minutes later, Jette Fleschutz doubled the lead after Emma Davidsmeyer found her inside the shooting circle with an accurate pass from the right flank.

The floodgates opened in the second half as Germany amassed eight goals. Sonja Zimmerman grabbed a hat-trick while Pauline Heinz, Selin Oruz, Lorenz, Stapenhorst and Fleschutz scored one each as the Czech team’s defence completely fell apart in front of Valentin Altenburg’s high-pressing side.

Japan players celebrate after scoring a goal against Chile.
| Photo Credit:
Adimazes

Chile’s Olympic dream ended with a 0-2 loss to Japan. The South Americans started the must-win match in the worst-possible manner conceding a PC in the first 15 seconds, and eight seconds later, Kana Urata’s drag flick from the top of the circle found the bottom-right corner of the Chilean goal. It is the quickest goal of the tournament so far.

A nervous Chile side never really recovered from the shock as it made basic trapping and passing errors against a quick Japan team. One of those errors led to Japan’s second goal as Chile lost possession inside its own half. Mai Toriyama entered the shooting circle from the right and squared the ball to Aimi Kobayashi at the near post. Kobiyashi, with a no-look pass, found Miyu Hasegawa at the far post who easily beat Chilean goalkeeper Natalia Salvador.

Jude Menezes’ side, full of confidence after holding Germany to a 1-1 draw in its previous match, played with high intensity and suffocated Chile. While the South Americans were much more enterprising in the second half, earning two PCs in the space of a few seconds in the 39th minute, their Asian opponents kept them at bay.

Germany and Japan both finished the group stage with seven points but the former grabbed the top spot due to a superior goal difference. Chile and Czech Republic go to classification matches after finishing third and fourth with three and zero points, respectively.