New Zealand 3 drew Argentina 3

Goals: Phillip Burrows PC 15m, Hayden Shaw PC 46m PC 70m; Lucas Vila FG 16m PC 69m, Juan Garreta FG 27m

With the Blacksticks already through to the final, the pressure was on Argentina in their last pool match to win at least one point to cement their second place in the table and avert the possibility of India snatching away the opportunity to play for gold tomorrow. The Kiwis did not field Ryan Archibald today, injured on Thursday, or Bryce Collins, while Argentina left defender Matias Rey in the stands and brought Juan Vivaldi back in goal after Thursday's intermezzo by Mariano Chao.

In the match's early phase, play was mainly jerky and lacking direction, both teams producing an unusually high number of errors and turnovers. New Zealand were the slightly stronger team however and made good use of their second penalty corner of the match, when Phillip Burrows deflected a Hayden Shaw hit. Argentina's reply was immediate, as within less than a minute, Lucas Vila sunk a beautiful reverse stick hit from a narrow angle.

Juan Garreta gave his team the lead ten minutes later by deflecting a hit across the crowded circle, and Argentina looked the stronger team heading into the break and coming back onto the field after half time. Still, slowly but surely, the Blacksticks worked their way into the game, and scored the equalizer in the 46th minute, when Hayden Shaw converted the first of two penalty corners today.

Five minutes later, a skirmish in midfield between Phillip Burrows and Fernando Zylberberg turned into a brief crisis as players from both sides ran up to engage in a heated and partly physical exchange of opinions. The turmoil subsided as quickly as it had developed, but Argentina had to continue without Zylberberg who had received a yellow card for the attack on his Kiwi counterpart.

The game continued on a high energy level, albeit somewhat erratic at times. Argentina continued to play without veterans Almada and Lombi who sat out the second half on the bench, in Almada's case most probably a safety measure to avoid him picking up another card that would put him out of tomorrow's final. The South Americans' young players did quite well without them, and Lucas Vila, one of today's key players for Cacho Vigil's side, finally put them up one goal again with two minutes to go, converting a penalty corner with a neat flick.

Seconds from the end of the match, Hayden Shaw levelled the score again with a cracking penalty corner flick and his second goal of the day but one point was enough for Argentina to join New Zealand in the final and ensure today's rematch.

 

India 4 defeated Japan 3

Goals: Sandeep Singh PC 7m, Prabjhot Singh PC 22m FG 34m, Dilip Tirkey PC 48m; Kenichi Katayama FG 11m, Takahiko Yamabori PC 47m, Kazuhiro Tsubouchi FG 65m

In the second encounter of this day that was so rich in goals, India took on Japan who still had a theoretical possibility of reaching the bronze medal match by defeating India. They never really managed to challenge their India counterparts today however, and it was soon clear that India would take the match.

A cracking flick from Sandeep Singh first gave his side the lead as early as in the 7th minute, to which Japan replied with the equalizer with Kenichi Katayama diving to tip in a ball hit across the face of the goal. This seemed to fuel the Japanese who played well organized and smart hockey but lacked the final touch to push past their opponents.

Prabjhot Singh however singlehandedly crushed their hopes, forcing the rebound from a Sandeep Singh penalty corner across the line in the 22nd minute and piling on another goal with a minute to go in the first half, scoring a fabulous goal with a hard hit from the edge of the circle. This gave India a comfortable two goal lead at half time which they never looked back from.

Takahiko Yamabori gave Japan back some hope when he brought out his specialty penalty corner flick to reduce the lag to one goal but Dilip Tirkey replied within a minute for India, slotting a penalty corner in between Japanese goalkeeper Shunsuke Nagaoka and the right post.

Kazuhiro Tsubouchi managed to get one back for Japan late in the game, taking advantage of a good pass into the circle from Ryuji Furusato, but Japan could not avoid defeat and will have to line up in tomorrow's match for fifth place. India won the match deservedly and are now headed for the bronze medal match.

 

England 6 defeated Belgium 2

Goals: Martin Jones FG 26m, Matt Daly FG 28m FG 58m, Simon Mantell FG 53m FG 70m, Jonty Clarke FG 65m; Jerome Dekeyser PC 47m, Gregory Gucasoff PC 60m

In the last pool match in this BDO Champions Challenge in Boom, England and Belgium added another 8 goals for an astonishing daily total of 21. Going into the match, the hosts only needed a draw to make the bronze medal match, while the English who had had such a disappointing start into the tournament needed to win to achieve the same aim.

It was soon clear however that England was in control in this encounter between two unequal opponents. England brought out the hockey that had been expected from them earlier in the event already, while Belgium did not have much to offer and found themselves chasing the Brits through most of the match.

In the first half, Belgium still offered some resistance but a double hit from the English late in the half all but crushed their aspirations. Martin Jones scored England's first in the 26th minute, taking advantage of an overcrowded circle to tip in a hit across. Two minutes later, Matt Daly deflected a free hit through in between Cedric Degreve's legs to give England a two goal half time lead.

England had thus taken charge of the game and never let go. They came out after the break putting heavy pressure on the Belgian defense which found itself struggling to avoid an increase of the damage. A Jerome Dekeyser penalty corner goal briefly brought hope to the Belgian team and fans, but Simon Mantell soon sunk the first of his two goals today to restore the lead.

Matt Daly added another, deflecting a long hit into the circle, which provoked the tournament's first video umpire decision that confirmed the goal, before Belgium could get their second in with Gregory Gucasoff converting another of Belgium's penalty corners. With ten minutes to go, there was another brief ray of hope for the home team, but England were on a roll and piled on two more through Jonty Clarke and Simon Mantell.

England are thus - somewhat surprisingly considering their slow start into the tournament - in the bronze medal match against India tomorrow, while hosts Belgium are confined to facing Japan in the match for 5th place.