China holds to draw against the Australia by 2-2 in 2011 Rabo FIH Champions Trophy
Chinese women scored a late equaliser to level the game against Australia’s Hockeyroos by 2-2 in the Rabo FIH Women’s Champions Trophy being played at Wagner Stadium, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on July 1.
Both the teams could only manage to qualify for the placement Pool D along with Germany and England in which they will play for the 5th to 8th position.
The Hockeyroos remained more dominant in the first half with two early strikes. Both of their goals in the first half were scored on penalty-corners, while the Chinese scored their solitary first half goal on a drag flick. The Hockeyroos took the early lead
by scoring their opening goal of the match in the 16th minute, when Casey Eastham converted their first penalty-corner into a goal. Australia’s Hockeyroos continued with the same fashion in the remaining time of the first half and just seven minutes
after the opener they once again find the Chinese net, when Jodie Schulz scored their second goal in the 23rd minute. Chinese also took the same time as the Australians, for their second goal, to score their first goal of the match in the 30th minute,
thanks to Chi Hongexia Li who converted a penalty-corner into the goal and reduced the Australian lead. The Hockeyroos had five penalty-corners in the match, but they could only convert two of these into the goals.
The second half was not as much entertaining as the first half and only a single was scored in the later part of the second half. The Chinese women looked much improved in their defence along with an electrifying paced attack that led them to the draw. They
were much disciplined and clinical in their defence besides their attack was more aggressive as compared to first half. The Chinese showed beautiful dribbling skills and great control over the ball and eventually succeeded in the 58th minute, when
Chi Mao Weilin made the equalising strike, a wonderful field goal.
In the last ten minutes of the second half both opponents looked very concentrated and passionate to score the decider of the match. In fact, the Chinese women had a fair chance of ticking the score sheet once again, just six minutes prior to the conclusion,
but they misfired it as Mao could not make her deflected effort to perfection. The match ended at 2-2.
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