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Hockeyroos in trouble as Germany eye semi-finals
Australia face a titanic struggle Sunday to survive in the Olympic women's field hockey after Germany threatened to usurp their place in the semi-finals.
Defending champions Australia face a titanic struggle Sunday to survive in the Olympic women's field hockey after Germany threatened to usurp their place in the semi-finals.
The Germans shocked South Korea 3-2 in their last group B match on Sunday to finish the preliminary round with six points, two ahead of Australia.
With the Netherlands already through to the semi-finals from the group, Australia must defeat the Dutch later on Sunday to qualify and stay in contention for a third consecutive gold medal.
The Dutch, bronze medallists at Sydney four years ago, have won all their three matches so far.
"It's going to be an enoromous task, but we will give it out best shot," said Australian coach David Bell.
The Hockeyroos won golds at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and again at Sydney under the legendary Ric Charlesworth, who made way for Bell after the 2000 event.
Germany, who were staring down the barrel before Sunday with just one win from three games, played aggressively to down the fancied Koreans.
Anke Kuehn opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Franziska Gude made it 2-0 five minutes before the break.
Park Mi-Hyun kept Korean hopes alive with a goal a few seconds before half-time, but the Germans defended stoutly to prevent the equaliser in the second-half.
Germany were rewarded for their tenacity when Caroline Casaretto scored 10 minutes before the end to put her team 3-1 ahead.
South Korea, silver-medallists twice in 1988 and 1996, earned a last-minute goal through captain Kim Seong-Eun, but it was not enough to keep them in contention for the semi-finals.
The Koreans, who ended with just one win, hope to finish among the top five when classification matches start on Tuesday.
South Korean manager Kim Sang-Ryul said his team did not deserve to qualify.
"We were not aggressive enough," he said. "To win the Olympics there cannot be any off-days and we had many of those here."
German coach Markus Weise said his team had proved critics wrong.
"Few gave us a chance to go into the semi-finals before the competition and now we are almost there," he said.
"Defeating Australia in our first match gave the girls confidence that they could do it. And they proved it again today they must not be underestimated."
World champions Argentina and China have already qualified for the semi-finals from group A.
