Dutch women reach final after shootout

The Netherlands came out top in a sudden death shootout against Germany yesterday to go into the final of the Olympic women’s hockey and keep the target of a third successive gold medal in their sights. The shootout ended 4-3 after normal time of the tight contest finished at 1-1.It took 14 shots to get the result. The Netherlands will meet New Zealand or Britain in the final. The Netherlands had the better of the first quarter, mounting a number of fast attacks, but Germany took a surprise lead in the 10th minute when the ball bounced free from a penalty corner and Lisa Schutze banged it in.The women in orange wasted no time in grabbing an equaliser in the first minute of the second quarter when Maartje Paumen took the set up from a penalty corner and drilled the ball home. They came close to taking the lead in the last five minutes of the quarter but German goalkeeper Nike Lorenz tipped another powerful shot from Paumen over the bar for the two sides to end the half level.The Netherlands, playing with great flair, piled on the pressure in the third quarter but could not break down a doughty German defence. Germany came close to scoring on the counter-attack in the last minute when Charlotte Stapenhorst cut into the circle on the right but her shot was blocked.Kitty van Male nearly scored for the Netherlands with five minutes to go but shot too high to the dismay of the boisterous Dutch supporters, who made an orange block in the stand. The last few minutes saw the Netherlands besiege their opponents’ goal area but the Germans held on for the match to go to a shootout.The Netherlands took gold in London in 2012 and Beijing in 2008 and are also world champions.Belgium men stun the Dutch to set up Argentina finalMeanwhile, Belgium set up an intriguing men’s hockey final against Argentina after they dumped out the world’s second-ranked team the Netherlands with a resounding 3-1 semi-final victory on Tuesday night.Goals from Jerome Truyens, Florent van Aubel and John-John Dohmen guaranteed Belgium a place in their first ever Olympic final. “It’s an historical night. It was a great game, amazing against Holland. I think we’ve never beaten them in an official tournament,” Dohmen told reporters. “Now we are doing the perfect tournament, the tournament for life and it’s at the right moment, at the Olympics.”Following a dull first quarter, Truyens opened the scoring from a penalty corner attempt and Dohmen doubled the advantage three minutes later after getting into the circle and knocking in a pass. Just 23 seconds after Dohmen scored, however, the Netherlands cut the lead as talisman Mink van der Weerden scored his ninth penalty corner goal of the Olympics to keep his side in the game heading into halftime. “They played really well and we just sort of gave it away in the first half,” Van der Weerden said. “We played really badly in the first half. No proper passing, no proper rhythm, nothing. We just gave it away in the first half, it was very silly. We never really were in the race.”Belgium were on the back foot for most of the third quarter as they attempted to stifle the impressive Dutch attack, led by Van der Weerden. Early in the fourth period, Belgium regained their two-goal advantage courtesy of a brilliant counter-attack, which ended up with Van Aubel scoring.  The Netherlands piled on the pressure with a wave of attacks, which required goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch to produce several saves, but Belgium hung on for a spot in the today’s final. They will face an in-form Argentina side, who powered into the final with a stunning 5-2 upset of defending champions Germany.