Argentina and Korea ride into the 2011 Rabo FIH Champions Trophy semi-finals
After a nail-biting contest, the final group match of the 2011 Rabo FIH Champions Trophy between women’s hockey teams of Argentina and Korea concluded at 1-1 draw.
The cliff-hanging competition was contested at the Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Following the draw, the two teams comfortably moved into the semi-final round of the championship.
The Korean team did not win or lose a single game, but drew all the three games played so far in the tournament. On the other hand, the World Champions, Argentina managed two victories respectively against England and China, while the game against Korea
ended in a draw.
The Korean women landed on the field with a mission to avoid a defeat, which could push them into the Pool C. Therefore they started a more offensive style of play from the very early minutes in a bid to establish their dominance.
Contrary to expectations, the Koreans made a full-stop on the winning-streak of Argentina which had not lost any world-level game since 2010 Champions Trophy. It has won thirteen consecutive games of which six were played in the Champions Trophy, while seven
in the World Cup 2010.
The defending champions though had the ball most of the time in the first set of play, but failed to impress the other side. They could not score a goal in the first 35 minutes, but conceded a goal in the midway to the period.
The Argentinean players missed numerous goal-scoring chances in the opening minutes. Delfina Merino failed to convert a short-corner, while Agustina Soledad Garcia’s hit went over the crossbars.
In the 26th minute of the game, Park Mi Hyun managed to take the ball into the defensive circle of Argentina and sent a reverse shot into the net. It was the only offence from the two sides in the opening period. Another shock came for Argentina,
when Mariela Scarone was shown a yellow card. Though the defending champions put all their efforts to score an equaliser, but trailed by one goal at the end of the first 35 minutes.
The players from Argentina recuperated themselves in much more organised form and started offensive style of play. However, the Korean women were quite wonderful in defence and denied several efforts in the early minutes of the second half action.
After missing a number of efforts, the Argentinean stars managed to tie the game at one-all. In the 57th minute of the match, Daniela Sruoga received a ball who did not made any mistake and scored the first goal for her team. Following the equaliser
goal, the players from Argentina struggled hard in a bid to continue their winning-streak, but they failed to do so. The match concluded with both teams locked at 1-1.
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