MADRID, 12 March 2004 — Defending Olympic champions Holland and hosts Spain roared into the final of the Olympic Hockey Qualifiers with victories over Asian giants India and Pakistan yesterday, thus relegating the subcontinent arch rivals to a contest for the third spot here at the Club De Campo.
Holland booked their place in the final with a 4-2 triumph over India, while Spain eked out a 3-2 verdict against Pakistan, who after a fine start in the tournament proved patchy in the later matches.
The Dutch displayed their superiority in both their attack and short corner conversions to prevail over a resurging India in a game that brought the best out of both teams.
Earlier in the day, Great Britain edged out Belgium while New Zealand prevailed over South Africa in the 5-8 classification matches to make the field for Athens.
In the first semifinal of the event, Holland proved they were a better side with a classy displaying of attacking hockey that left the Indians helpless in the last quarter of the match.
But Holland’s Australian coach Terry Walsh was not very impressed with his team’s performance saying that the series of blasts that took place just five minutes from the team hotel distracted the players.
“It is not very easy to give your best in such circumstances and that reflected in their performance,” said the former Australian legend, who, is at the helm of the Dutch campaign for Athens.
The first semifinal was played hours after a series of bomb explosions at three different railway stations in Madrid killed over 180 people in the early morning rush hour. The biggest explosions were carried out at the Atocha Station situated just one kilometer away from the place where the twelve participating teams are staying.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) decided to continue the tournament despite the blasts. The FIH issued a statement, in which they said that they had taken the decision on the advice of the Spanish authorities.
“Following the agreement of all participating teams and officials the competition at Club de Campo will continue”. A minute’s silence will be observed before all games and flags will be flown at half-mast as a sign of respect
Holland’s short corner specialist Taeke Taekema scored twice in the first half but the real hero for the Dutch was prolific striker Matthijs Brouwer whose two superb goals were the decisive factor in the match.
Indian coach Rajinder Singh blamed his team’s poor short corner defense for the defeat. “The only worrying thing for me is our penalty corner defense. It is one area that we need to work on in the future,” he said. Both teams had equal possession and chances to enter their circle in the first ten minutes but the Dutch gained control with a 13th minute short corner strike from Taekema.
India equalized in the 30th minute with a great individual goal from Gagan Ajit Singh who stole the ball from a Dutch defender, passed off and then received it back on the top of the circle before hitting an early shot into the left corner of the goal.
But India’s joy was short lived as Takema struck again a minute before halftime to give Holland a 2-1 lead. Deepak Thakur made it 2-2 for India in the 42nd minute with a sweep shot. Five minutes later Brouwer took the Dutch ahead against the run of play. Dutch skipper Jeroen Delmee smashed the ball from a free hit at the very top of the circle and Brouwer was on hand to deflect the ball to the left post. And five minutes from the final whistle Brouwer scored his second goal by against redirecting a Tuen de Nooijer shot past goalie Davesh Chauhan.
Pakistan twice made up the one-goal deficit against Spain but could not match the fast-moving Spanish attack nor break past the tight defense of the hosts.
Tubau struck in the 14th and 39th minutes to give Spain the lead twice in the match. His first goal was canceled out by an Abbasi strike in the 30th minute and the second was neutralized by a Khan goal in the 67th minute.
But Spain’s ace goal getter Freixa put Spain up again in the 689th minute and then they managed to hold out for the day to enter the final.
Great Britain and New Zealand overcame stiff oppositions to qualify for Athens. Britain overcame a defensive Belgium 2-1, while short corner specialist Hayden Shaw was New Zealand’s hero in a 3-2 triumph over South Africa.
Belgium and South Africa will now fight it out for the last remaining Athens ticket when they meet in the playoff for the seventh place.
The Britons got off to a great start with two goals is as many minutes, the first coming in the eighth minute. Barry Middleton scored the first goal off a field attempt while Tom Bertram converted a short corner just a minute later to double the lead. Belgium converted a short corner just two minutes from halftime through Marc Coudron to cut the lead to 1-2.
The Belgians made desperate attempts for an equalizer throughout the second session but their moves were stopped well by a packed British defense.
There was joy for New Zealand too after they recovered from one goal down to beat South Africa 3-2. Short corner specialist Hayden Shaw converted two short corners helping the Kiwis to their most important win in the event.
The South Africans twice led by one goal in the first half but could not hold on. They went ahead in the sixth minute through Gregg Nicol who converted a short corner but New Zealand bounced back when Shaw converted a penalty corner ten minutes later.
Nicol scored his second goal three minutes from halftime to make it 2-1 for South Africa. The Kiwis struck twice within a span of a two minutes through Shaw and Gareth Brooks to confirm an Athens berth.
Malaysia scored a consolation win when they edged out Japan 3-2 in a 9-12 classification match. Misron Azlan scored the winner for Malaysia after the two teams were tied on 2-2 till the 48th minute.
Zbigniew struck twice to help Poland register a 2-1 victory over Canada in another classification game of little significance. Wayne Fernades scored the consolation goal for Canada. All the match’s three goals came off short corners.
