Rabo FIH Champions Trophy: Final Eight Standings (Part 4)
Article continued from Rabo FIH Champions Trophy: Final Eight Standings (Part 4)
China: Number Seven
China, the Asian giant, failed to impress the European counter-parts and secured second last position in the eight-nation tournament. On way to this position, China won a single game, while drew three out of total six matches. The first game between China
and Korea, which was also an event –opener, ended in a 2-2 draw while the Chinese lost to Argentina in the second game by three goals, 4-1. The Chinese team also drew the third and fourth games against England and Australia respectively, at 0-0 and 2-2. After
losing the fifth game to Germany by three goals, the Chinese players revved them up and won the play-off fixture by two goals, 5-3.
China scored 11 goals, while conceded 15 more than any other team in the six fixtures. It converted six penalty-corners out of total 19. It is worth mentioning here that the Chinese team won the title once back in 2000, while become the runner-up on two
different occasions.
Zhao Yudiao, Mao Weilin, Gao Lihua, Ma Yibo, Fu Baorong, Song Qingling and skipper, Zhang Yimeng, were among the outstanding players of the Chinese line-up. It is worth mentioning here that Yudiao was second highest scorer of the tournament with five goals.
Germany: Number Eight
Germany, the former Champions Trophy winner, was a failed team in the eight-team Amsterdam event. It could only win a single game against China, while received defeats in the other five. It was defeated in the first three matches in the hands of New Zealand,
Netherlands and Australia respectively, by 1-0, 2-1 and 1-0. After losing the fourth game to China, they cranked up their offence and won the next match against China by three scores, 4-1. However, they failed to maintain their momentum and got beaten by China
by 5-3 in the play-off encounter.
In the six games, they scored only nine goals while conceded 14, only one goal less than China. Besides, their conversion rate was also not impressive. They scored off from three penalty-corners out of the total 29. It is worth writing here that the German
women secured the first ever 8th position in the Champions Trophy. Their previous lowest record was the 5th standing in the 2005 version.
Interestingly, the German women have had one Champions Trophy title in their credit back in 2006 while stood second on three times.
Despite having experienced names in the squad including Yvonne Frank, Natascha Keller, Christina Schutze, Janine Beermann, Maike Stockel and Julia Muller, the German failed to show impressive results against key squads. Keller, who has had 381 international
caps in her credit, failed to serve much to her country. Apart from her, Barbara Vogel, the German goalie, was also not at her best and showed many lapses in the competition.
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