Sport
Netherlands women beat Australia to win hockey World Cup
Netherlands women beat Australia to win hockey World Cup
Agencies/The Hauge
Hosts Netherlands beat Australia 2-0 to win a record seventh women’s title at the Hockey World Cup at the Hague yesterday. The Dutch, who took Olympic gold in 2012, went ahead through a Maartje Paumen penalty after Roos Drost was brought down inside the circle. |
Kim Lammers slapped in her own deflected shot to double the lead and Australia were unable to respond. “The girls played a great game,” said Dutch coach Max Caldas.
“This was a big battle because in my opinion we played the second best team in the world.”
“We were unable to put the scoreboard pressure on,” said Australia coach Adam Commens.
“At the moment, there is a gap between the Dutch and all other teams.”
Caldas commented: “We had to stay sharp, then if you think you have already won, you normally lose.”
The Olympic champions dominated the game. Ellen Hoog could have lifted the result to 3-0, but her attempt hit the post. Hoog, selected as Player of the Tournament, added “I think we deserved the victory because we were fitter and stronger.”
Australia struggled to create promising opportunities and suffered their first loss of the tournament. Despite the defeat Commens was proud on his team’s performance: “This shows how far we have come. We played five tournaments since the London Olympics and we reached the final at all of them.”
Title defenders Argentina took the bronze medal after defeating the United States 2-1 thanks to a double from team-captain Luciana Aymar.
Aymar put her Leonas ahead on eight minutes after tipping in a pass from Carla Rebecchi.
Three minutes later, the United States struck back with a penalty corner goal, when Lauren Crandall deflected a shot from Caroline Nichols into the net. Aymar, the most capped player in the Argentine team with more than 360 international appearances, added another goal from open play on 21 minutes to seal the victory. A fourth place finish is the best result for the United States at the World Cup. New Zealand finished 5th after a 4-0 win over China.
In the men’s competition, India won 9th place after beating South Korea 3-0. The men’s final between The Netherlands and Australia will be played on Sunday.
Belgium and Germany will battle for the 5th place, and England will face Argentina in the bronze medal game.