Field Hockey Semifinals

The semifinal matches at the Tokyo Olympics field hockey tournaments have been completed, and the ladies to the left showed why they're one of the most fearsome teams on the planet today. Most times, the Netherlands doesn't strike fear in the hearts of anyone, but, if you put them out on a field hockey pitch, there's bound to be goals scored of all varieties. It's why the Dutch women are ranked first-overall in the FIH World Rankings, and they were looking to live up to that billing in toay's match. Three other games were played as well, so let's check out the action from the semifinal games as gold-medal berths were on the line!

Belgium vs. India

We'll kick things off on the men's side of the tournament as their semifinal games were played on Tuesday, and first up was undefeated Belgium over the upstart India squad who had recorded an impressive win over Great Britain in the quarterfinals. Belgium is the second-overall team in the FIH rankings, so this would be a test for India. Could they play as well as they did on Sunday?

It was an easy lead for Belgium in this one as they jumped ahead off Loick Luypaert's penalty corner conversion in the second minute! Despite having the Belgians continue to press, India would get a goal off the penalty corner in the seventh minute when Harmanpreet Singh scored past goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch to make it 1-1. Just two minutes later, Mandeep Singh's flick would find the back of the net, and India was up 2-1 on Belgium through one quarter of play!

It would take the Belgians just four minutes into the second quarter to even the game as Alexander Hendrickx ripped his 12th goal of the tournament(!) to make it 2-2! The teams would battle back and forth for the remaining eleven minutes of the quarter with no other goals to report as Belgium and India went into the halftime break tied 2-2.

The third quarter would see nothing of note happen in the frame, so we'd go to the fourth quarter when the Belgium broke the deadlock in the 49th minute. Hendrickx would add his 13th goal of the tournament in converting this penalty corner, and Belgium took a 3-2 lead! Minutes later, Belgium was awarded a penalty stroke, and Hendrickx would net his 14th goal of the tournament as he approached the Olympic record of 17 goals in this game! In the final minute, Belgium would ice it with a handful of seconds left as John-John Dohman scored on the empty net as Belgium will play for gold while India will play for bronze following Belgium's 5-2 victory in the semifinal!

Australia vs. Germany

The undefeated Australians squared off against a German team that, at times, looked very shaky in the preliminary round, yet looked very composed against Argentina in the quarterfinal. Which Germany would we see as they battled the first-overall team in Australia as both teams looked to advance to the gold-medal final?

Just as Australia did against the Netherlands in the quarterfinal, they jumped out to an early lead as Tim Brand found the net behind German goalkeeper Alexander Stadler just seven minutes in for the 1-0 lead. Germany would respond, however, as Lukas Windfeder converted a penalty corner in the tenth minute to make it a 1-1 game. That even score would remain through the horn, and we'd move to the second quarter with both teams looking to take the lead.

It looked like this chess match would head into the break still even, but a late penalty corner in the 27th minute saw Blake Govers convert for Australia, and the Kookaburras took the 2-1 lead into the half! The top-ranked team had the lead going into the second half, but could they hold it against a German team who had looked very good through 30 minutes?

In one word: yes. The Germans pressed only to be turned away by the Australians time and time again while the Australians transitioned back up the pitch as Germany played well defensively. The third quarter saw that 2-1 score hold, so we'd head into the final frame with both teams still looking for goals. We'd finally see one in the 57th minute, and Australia would close out this game with a Lachlan Sharp goal as the Australians move on to play Belgium in the gold medal final while Australia would meet India for the bronze medal after the Kookaburras advanced on the 3-1 victory!

The women saw their semifinal matches played today, and, thanks to the upsets in Monday's quarterfinals, both third-seeds in the two pools and a fourth-seed in Pool A were still alive as three of the four semifinalists. Who would advance to play for the gold medal in the women's tournament?

Netherlands vs. Great Britain

A rematch from Pool A play where the Dutch got past the British by a 1-0 score, this game had a slightly different feeling. Nothing happened in the first quarter as both teams attacked unsuccessfully while defending well enough to keep their opponents off the board, so we'd move to the second quarter where things changed dramatically.

In the 19th minute, Netherlands moved the ball up the field with precise passing where it landed on the stick of Laurien Leurink. Leurink made one defender miss as the top of the circle before feeding Felice Albers on the left, and she made no mistake as she flicked the ball between the legs of Maddie Hinch for the 1-0 Dutch lead! Seconds later, the Dutch moved the ball around the British end with pinpoint passing once more, and Xan de Waard's found Marloes Keetles whose strike beat the outstretched leg of Hinch to put the Dutch up 2-0 before the 20-minute mark! The final ten minutes of the first half was played more like the first quarter, but the allowed the Netherlands to take the 2-0 lead they had built into halftime!

The second half began with the Dutch applying all sorts of pressure on the British, and it would result in a penalty corner that Maria Verschoor got a stick on for a gorgeous deflection that Hinch had no chance to save to give the Netherlands a 3-0 lead. The 39th minute would see Lidewij Welten deep in the corner of the British end, but she found enough room to fire a hard centering ball towards the goal where Albers would score her second of the game on another deflection as the Netherlands went up 4-0! In the 41st minute, Giselle Ansley finally broke the goose egg through a penalty corner strike, but Great Britain would need a big fourth quarter as they trailed 4-1 in this game.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be as the only goal scored was by the Netherlands, and Frederique Matla's strike hit Hinch, but she couldn't prevent the ball from crossing the line as the Dutch women restored their four-goal lead. When the final horn sounded the top FIH ranked team on the planet had earned the 5-1 win and their second-straight Olympic gold-medal berth while Great Britain will play in the bronze-medal match, following short in their pursuit of defending their 2016 gold medal.

Argentina vs. India

In a match that no one may have expected, the Argentinians - third in Pool B - would play India - fourth in Pool B - in the second semifinal. Argentina upset Germany with a rather spectacular game in their quarterfinal match while India shocked Australia despite being heavily outshot and outplayed for long periods of their quarterfinal game. Who would advance to face the Netherlands?

India's bend-don't-break defence got them a nice transition down the field to earn a penalty corner very early in this game, and it would pay off as Gurjit Kaur's strike found room past everyone as India led 1-0 just two minutes into the game! Argentina seemed to wake up after that early goal as they pushed back with their own chances, but that one-goal lead would hold to the break between quarters.

At the 18-minute mark after some solid offensive pressure, Argentina earned a penalty corner and Maria Barrionuevo would make no mistake as her flick found its way into the back of the net as the Argentinians evened the game at 1-1! Argentina would continue to press after the goal, but the Indian women wouldn't give up any other goals despite being under siege for most of the half. At the halftime break, the 1-1 game stood.

The back-and-forth continued into the second half, but we'd see Argentina take the lead on a second Maria Barrionuevo penalty corner that Indian goalkeeper Sativa had little chance on following a deflection off her own defender that have the Argentinians the 2-1 lead in the 38th minute! That score would hold through to the quarter break as the chess match between these two squads continued!

The fourth quarter saw the see-saw action continue as both sides looked to set up opportunities only to be denied by defensive play and the goalkeepers. Despite some desperation play in the final minutes by India as they pressed for an equalizer, Argentina will get a chance to capture a gold medal victory as they advance to the final with the 2-1 win over India, erasing a seventh-place finish in Rio, and India will play Great Britain for the bronze medal on Friday, removing any memory of a 12th-place finish in 2016!

The final field hockey article on Hockey Blog In Canada will happen on Friday as the Tokyo Olympics and the field hockey tournaments come to a close this weekend. This tournament has been rather incredible with the action and athleticism, and I hope you've taken the chance to catch some of the tournament. If you haven't, Thursday and Friday are your last chances to see the best field hockey teams on the planet play for medals!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!