Argentina beat Germany by 2-0 to lift Four Nations Berlin Hockey Tournament
Delfina Merino and Carla Rebecchi scored one goal each and had an assist, as the women’s hockey team of Argentina powered a convincing 2-0 victory over Germany to lift the title of the Four Nations Cup that took place in Berlin on June 20, 2011.
In order to prepare themselves ahead of the Champions Trophy, four teams including Argentina, Germany, Australia and Korea faced each other in the Four Nations Tournament in Berlin. The World Champion, Argentina, which is also famous as Las Leonas,
scored a couple of goals, while holding the opponent, German women, scoreless throughout the two halves.
It is vital to mention here that Argentina was due to win the crucial contest to take the title. However, the host squad of Germany was only required a tie-up. Germany has had a better goal-scoring rate than the reigning World Champion, Argentina.
In a crowd-packed arena, Argentina and Germany both the squads landed on the field with a high morale and displayed impressive performance in the first 35 minutes of the match. Though the period was filled with lot of attacks and counter-attacks, no
team could touch the score-board.
One German striker, Celine Wilde, found a chance, but failed to do so. Maria Belen Succi, the Argentinean goalie, made a dive to block the shot and cleared it from dangerous zone. On the other side, the German custodian, namely Kristina Reynolds, was
also at her best and denied numerous attacks from the other side. Despite the hard and fast game, the opening half concluded at 0-0.
Both the squads commenced the second half with the same spirit; however, it was Argentina which established their dominance on the field. The Argentinean girls went for back-to-back strikes. In the 53rd minute of the game, Carla
Rebecchi notched the maiden goal of the game and put Germany under intense pressure. In a matter of eight minutes, another Las Leonas’ player, Delfina Merino, scored another goal and expanded the tally up to two goals, 2-0.
On the other side, the resilient defence of Argentina did not allow the opponent Germany to join the scoring and rode away the field with at 2-0. Having a better goal-scoring ratio, the German women secured second position in the four nations.
Owing to brilliant performance, Nina Hasselmann of Germany was named as Player of the Tournament while her team-mate, Natascha Keller, was the highest goal-scorer of the event with three goals. Maria Belen Succi of Argentina was selected as the Best
goalie of the tournament.
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