BRONZE OR BUST FOR GB AFTER DUTCH DISH OUT RIO REVENGE
REVENGE was served piping hot as the Netherlands blasted away GB and banished Rio heartache on a searing, brutal morning in Tokyo. In 2016, goalkeeper Maddie Hinch clinched gold in a dramatic penalty shootout following a pulsating 3-3 draw, but sadly there was to be no repeat in a lopsided semi-final. With the mercury hitting 32˚C and humidity at 71 per cent, Mark Hager’s side had no answers to a rolling, brilliant Oranje machine that illustrated why they are the world’s best. This was a roasting.
They took that defeat in Rio personally, the Netherlands. Every tournament since has gone their way. A World Cup, three European titles and the first two editions of the Hockey Pro League plundered.
For GB, much has changed since that fateful night. Just five of the squad flew to Japan and the team, captain and coach are all different. Boy did it show. After a scoreless first quarter, two goals in two minutes at the start of the second from Felice Albers and Marloes Keetels, triggered what was a lesson. Perhaps understandably, the Dutch went on to show no mercy. After the quick-fire brace, Maria Verschoor added a third in the third with a terrific flick from a penalty corner, and before the quarter was out Albers grabbed a second from close range to make it four. A response belatedly arrived when Giselle Ansley swept home from a penalty corner, but respite was brief. Frederique Matla then put away her ninth of the competition early in the fourth to make it 5-1 and the misery was complete. GB skipper Hollie Pearne-Webb summed it up, saying: ‘We didn’t show up. I don’t know if the occasion got to some people, it was quite hot. We gave the ball away too easily and cheaply and we haven’t been doing that in other matches. Our game was sloppy.’ The 2016 champions would have needed two Hinchs to stop the Dutch from running riot and it was the goalkeeper that sounded a rallying cry ahead of tomorrow’s third-place match against India, who were beaten 2-1 by Argentina in the other semi-final. ‘It would be massive for this group if we get a medal and believe we can do it,’ Hinch explained. ‘We learned from Rio that the power of belief can make anything happen.’ Asked if bronze would mean as much as their gold from 2016, she said: ‘Yes. Given the whole cycle — Covid, change of coaches — it would be massive.’ Redemption in the final seems a formality for the Netherlands after this display. For Britain, it is bronze or bust.