Argentina close to clean sweep

South American women’s hockey team two matches away from Olympics title

Argentina’s women’s team are two matches away from fulfilling their skipper’s dream of Olympic gold and from holding all three major international hockey titles, after fighting their way to the top of their group with a goalless draw against Australia.

In their semi-final today, Argentina will meet Britain, who qualified despite losing 2-1 to the Netherlands, thanks to a 1-0 Japanese victory over China.

Title holders the Netherlands, who finished top of their group without dropping a point, will play against New Zealand, a side in their first Olympic semi-final.

Australia finished their campaign with a thumping 7-0 win over Pakistan yesterday, while Netherlands beat South Korea 4-2.

“Losing to the United States [earlier this week] made us stronger,” said Argentine skipper Luciana Aymar, a record seven-time world player of the year who has won every major title but Olympic gold.

Aymar, whose team are world champions and champions trophy titleholders, plans to retire after London. “Now it’s step by step, I’m only thinking of the semi-final.”

Australia were dominant in the first 15 minutes but for all their possession they found no way to break through Argentina’s defence or force serious chances on goal.

Argentina, who needed only a draw, launched a few fast counter-attacks, mainly involving Aymar, but could not net the ball.

Still, they controlled the second half as Australia hardly threatened, despite substituting their goalkeeper for an extra attacker with just under five minutes remaining.

They meet today, with Britain having advanced despite losing to the Netherlands 2-1 in a performance that British coach Danny Kerry said was “too edgy, too passive and too reactive”.

Britain, on the defence throughout the match, got the crowd roaring in the 29th minute with Crista Cullen’s fourth tournament goal, a low penalty corner flick. Moments later, British goalkeeper Elizabeth Storry saved a penalty corner by Maartje Paumen. The Dutch skipper has yet to score in London. The Dutch stepped it up after the interval. Britain’s keeper Storry managed to stop Lammers breaking in alone but she could only look on as Naomi van As tapped a penalty corner combination over the line. With 18 minutes to go, the Netherlands took the final 2-1 lead.