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With one semi-final spot on the line between three teams, Group B action returns on Day 8 of the Hockey World Cup 2014 with New Zealand and Germany starting the day’s proceedings followed by Argentina and Korea. Here is a preview of the day’s matches:
New Zealand vs Germany
After New Zealand and Germany lost their last games against Argentina and Netherlands respectively, these two teams will fight each other for a semi-final spot today. New Zealand, who started the tournament in great fashion, would be looking to rediscover the form of the early games and score a victory over Germany. On the other hand Germany will give it all they have in a last ditch attempt to qualify for the semi-finals.
The experienced players of New Zealand will once again have to shoulder the responsibility, with Phil Burrows and Simon Child as the main attacking options. New Zealand will also have to focus on winning penalty corners as their penalty corner expert Andy Hayward is in great form and raring to go.
Germany, after losing out to Netherlands, are under great pressure with the prospect of missing the semi-finals, and will focus on their striking pair of Christopher Zeller and Florian Fuchs in order to snatch victory from New Zealand. Also important will be the performance of midfielders Oliver Korn and Tobias Hauke as they have not performed to the best of their ability so far.
Germany have frequently conceded early goals in the tournament which has set the tone of their matches so they will be looking to reverse the trend and score an early goal to pressurize New Zealand. Despite their creativity and open play, Germany are working more on their passing than scoring goals, which has hurt them in the tournament; this is one area that New Zealand will be looking to exploit.
Today’s match is expected to be an even battle between both the teams, and looking at the current form, New Zealand might just nick it.
Korea vs Argentina
On a roll after beating New Zealand, Argentina face a tricky test as they take on Korea in the Group B match today. Korea, who have lost all their games so far, will be looking for their first win of the tournament.
This game will centre around the battle between Argentina’s penalty corner expert Gonzalo Peillat and Korean goalkeeper Lee Myungho in a classic case of attack vs defence clash. Argentina are expected to dominate the proceedings as Korea have not created many clear chances for their team to score a goal. The performance of Argentina’s defender Matias Rey will also worry Korean attackers as his fine form stopped the German team from scoring goals.
Korea will be looking to play with a packed defence in their own half and employ a counter-attacking strategy in order to score goals. Penalty corner expert Jang Jong Hyun will be hoping that his strikers give him enough penalty corners to have a shot at Argentina’s goal. He will also have to display pin point accuracy with his drag flicks in the game.
Argentina will enter the match as firm favourites after their giant slaying performances against Germany and New Zealand. A win for Argentina will make Group B very interesting as everything will go down to the wire in the last round of games.
Netherlands vs South Africa
The home fans will be expecting a goal fest when their team faces minnows South Africa in the last game of the day. South Africa, who have not won a single game so far in the tournament, will be hoping to avoid a mauling at the hands of the Dutch players who are on roll in the tournament.
Netherlands coach, despite winning with a margin of just one goal against Olympics champions Germany, will be happy with the team’s performance and will be expecting a repeat of the same today. The performances of players like Robbert Kemperman and Van der horst in the midfield along with Billy Bakker in the attack have been particularly impressive. Just like the last game, Netherlands will be looking to bombard the South African defence in the hope of scoring as many goals as possible before the semi-final stage of the tournament.
South Africa will be looking for an inspired performance from their defenders to stay competitive in the match. Just like Korea, they will also be focussing on a counter-attacking strategy in order to get something out of the game. South Africa’s striker Juilan Hykes will once again lead the attack, and experienced players like Lloyd Norris-Jones Justin Reid Ross and penalty corner expert Wade Paton will once again play key roles for South Africa in the match.
Netherlands enter the match as the favourites, and the hockey fans around the world would be expecting an avalanche of goals from them.
