Argentina and Germany squeezed past England and New Zealand respectively by a single goal, Netherlands demolished Australia 3-0 and China drew 2-2 with South Korea on the first day of the women’s Champions Trophy field hockey on Saturday.
It took the magic of Luciana Aymar to secure Argentina’s win.
Aymar, seven-time international player of the year in her record-making 13th Champions Trophy appearance, burst through England’s defense and drove a backstick shot from the left into the right of the goal.
Photo: Reuters
Carlos Retegui, Argentina coach, was enraptured by Aymar’s return to the team after six months off from hockey.
“She is to hockey what Ayton Senna, Tiger Woods and Maradona are to their sports, except that she is better because she always plays well,” Retegui said.
England coach Danny Kerry acknowledged Aymar’s brilliance, but drew a different conclusion.
“Argentina is a very different team without Aymar, as her absence brings Argentina back to the rest of the top teams,” Kerry said.
Netherlands outplayed Australia in all departments to seal a decisive 3-0 win.
Australia’s best chance came in the first minute as Ashleigh Nelson drove a shot just wide of goal.
Netherlands captain Maartje Paumen converted their first penalty corner, high into the right of the goal, followed by a field goal to Lidewij Welten in the first half.
Wieke Dijkstra scored with a backstick drive late in the match.
Max Caldas, the Argentina-born coach of the Netherlands, thought his team played a perfect match.
“It was a great performance, a 10 out of 10 performance today,” Caldas said.
Australia coach Adam Commens agreed.
“We have played most of the teams here during this year and today we were against the most skilled team we have come across,” Commens said.
Germany squeezed past New Zealand with a single penalty corner conversion by Julia Mueller late in the first half.
New Zealand built momentum from a slow start, peppering Germany’s goal late in the first and second halves without result.
Germany’s coach Michael Behrmann was satisfied with the performance, albeit without a full-strength squad.
“Our aim here is to finish in the top four in the tournament to ensure we qualify for the next Champions Trophy, but our focus is very much on the European Championships in August, where we have to qualify for the London Olympics and we will have a full-strength team,” Behrmann said.
New Zealand’s coach Mark Hager was disappointed with the loss.
“It is very disappointing to lose when we played really well, although we still have to do work on our execution skills in front of goal,” Hager said.
China and South Korea drew 2-2 after a scoreless first half followed by Korea taking a 2-0 lead with field goals by Cheon Eun-bi and Kim Jong-hee. China equalized late in the match with two penalty corner deflection goals to Zhao Yudiao and Mao Weilin.
Korea coach Kim Sang-ruyl was critical of the skills of his defenders.
“We have three new players in defense and they have to learn to be confident and to use the skills I have taught them,” Kim said.
Yesterday in Pool A, England was scheduled to play South Korea and Argentina to play China. In Pool B, Australia was set to play New Zealand and Germany meet the Netherlands.
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