The women’s hockey competition is hotting up now we’ve reached the knockout stages. Here’s a quick look back at the quarter finals where we had some shocks, some non-surprises and a few other things, too.
Australia 2-3 China.
Deja vu for the Hockeyroos.
This happened in the last Olympics, too. Australia cruised through the pool stages, looked really good at times and then lost in the quarter finals. Last time out it was India who knocked them out, this time it’s China. The Hockeyroos will be scratching their heads wondering how this has happened again. Yes, at least one (pretty big) decision didn’t go their way but it’s back to the drawing board for them.
Alyson Annan – Coaching genius.
It’s not a hot take particularly as she’s proved herself to be a fantastic coach for a long time, now. But what a job Alyson Annan is doing as head coach of China!
She has gradually edged them up the world rankings, she’s slowly but surely made them the best side in the Asian Championships and now, she’s making them a force on the world stage.
As those who know me will be well aware I love a bit of narrative and what better narrative than an Australia great knocking out Australia and getting one over on her former team mate, Katrina Powell in the other dugout? Superb piece of sub plot.
TLDR: Alyson Annan is a brilliant coach.
Can China become a force?
In the post match huddle Annan could be heard saying “We’re going to finish in the top four but we didn’t come here for that, we came here to be top.”
It’s a brilliant attitude and one that typifies why she’s been such a success as a player and a coach. Something worth noting about China is they’ve recognised that this is a process and that getting to where they want to takes time. They’ve seemingly been willing to lose games along the way on this journey, not panicking but taking their learnings from those games, making progress along the way. If they continue to be brave and back the decisions and trust their process, there’s every chance Annan could turn them into a real force.
Argentina 2-1 Germany
What a game!
I really enjoyed this one. Two well-matched teams who just went after each other. The quarter and half time break periods were bursting with highlights of both goalkeepers being forced to make saves. A great contest that was on a knife edge all the way through.
Nike Lorenz aerial pass: Wow.
The vision, confidence and ability to pop the ball over the top on the run like it’s nothing is a joy to behold. The pass led to the penalty stroke which Germany scored from. I look forward to my team mates trying it and realising how good Nike Lorenz is.
Argentina don’t know when they are beaten.
It takes a special kind of team and a special kind of mentality to keep going the way Argentina did to salvage this one. In a game this big at a tournament this big, to control your emotions and mentally keep going to the point where Julieta Jankunas was able to level things up to take it to shootout with a minute left is very impressive.
Mentality and momentum.
It’s one of the hardest things to pick yourself up after such a disappointment as conceding so late. Germany looked a little shocked going into the shootout. They’d clearly not expected to be going this far and they probably thought they had the game won. To switch from that to having work to do takes a lot of mental effort. Compare and contrast it with Argentina – pumped up, motivated, the momentum with them. In many ways it’s no surprise Germany wilted in the shootout and Argentina thrived.
Netherlands 3-1 Great Britain.
An early blow.
A lot of Great Britain’s tactics and game plan would have centred around keeping things tight and making it hard for the Netherlands. To concede inside the first minute would be desperately disappointing for them.
Yibbi Jansen picked out Xan de Waard in the circle with an aerial and she smashed it past Pritchard. Nothing the goalkeeper could do, but it was always going to be tough after that.
GB’s best performance so far.
The quality of opposition clearly brought the best out of Great Britain. They raised their game and fought for every ball. Drawing level through Hannah French – who has had a very good tournament – was a great moment for them. I’ve seen it said that they “emptied the tank” in pursuit of trying to upset the Dutch and that’s a fair assessment – Great Britain gave everything, but the Dutch are just too good.
The times, they are a-changing.
This is the first time Great Britain men or women haven’t won a medal since Beijing 2008. There will be a raft of retirements after this, some pretty obvious candidates and maybe a few who decide they don’t want to put themselves through another four years to go to LA 2028. This Great Britain group have been on a hell of run at the Olympics, but I expect the squad over the next few years to look very different. A rebuild will happen, and patience may be needed.
Farewell Laura Roper.
That is it. A glittering career comes to an end as Laura Roper has played her last ever hockey match. What a wonderful player she’s been for Great Britain and England. Three Olympic medals (gold and two bronze) European Gold, Commonwealth Gold to name just a fraction of her honours. Great Britain’s most decorated hockey athlete rides off into the sunset. What a ride it’s been. Thanks for everything.
The Dutch machine just keeps rolling on.
They don’t lose many games. They don’t look like losing many games. Is a Dutch double on the cards with both men and women winning gold?
Belgium 2-0 Spain.
Belgium’s patience pays off.
It’s wonderful to see Belgium’s patience and faith in their processes paying off. Like China in the section above, Belgium have been willing to accept that what they are building would take time and there would be bumps on the way. Now they have an experienced and high-performing team who could do something special.
Trust the process.
Belgium have collected silver medals at the 2017 and 2023 European Championships and a bronze in 2021. They’ve been on the up for a while now, making steady progress and picking up wins and medals. They now have a massive chance to add an Olympic medal to that collection and really take themselves to that next level. Exciting.
Charlotte Englebert – menace.
I picked her as my one to watch before the tournament which was pretty safe ground to be honest. She’s a superb player who really runs the show for Belgium. I love watching her play and seeing her get on the scoresheet was nice too. She was the obvious choice for my one to watch, but I’m still going to milk the credit for it.
Tomorrow it’s semi final time – Netherlands vs Argentina, China vs Belgium. It should be fascinating!
The Top of the D 