Our second visit to the hockey was the penultimate day of competition. Great Britain was not going to feature in the Ladies Finals because, despite being ranked fifth in the World, they had failed to get through the qualifying competition.
With no Brits to support, our Penguin Tour shirts were donned!
The first-half was a nervous affair that never really reached any great heights. There was little atmosphere, with the majority of the crowd not arriving until after the first half, as they were supporting the finalists.
The Argentineans dominated the second-half but failed to find the backboard. They finally clinched the bronze medal with a goal from Luciana Aymar in the seventieth minute. She trapped the ball from a free hit on the right, ran into space and then hit the ball past the Chinese goalkeeper high into the net.
The Dutch went straight into the attack, but Germany earn a short corner with their first attack. A switch left and Anke Kuehn puts the Germans ahead with only six minutes on the clock.
The Dutch continue to attack, but despite a succession of short corners, they are unable to equalise. The Germans are content to soak up the pressure and look for the counter-attack. It's nearly ten minutes before the Germans venture into their opponents half, but when they do they score again! They attack up the right hand-side and penetrate the circle through Natascha Keller, who shoots. Clarinda Sinnige, the Dutch 'keeper makes the save, but the ball falls to Frnziska Gude, who strikes the ball in on her reverse.
The dour Germans have executed their game-plan perfectly to take a two-nil half-time lead.
The Dutch continued the domination of possession at the beginning of the second half. With thirty-seven minutes gone the Dutch have another short corner. It appears to break down, when the trap is missed, but Mijntje Donners recovers and manages to pass the ball to the right post, where Maartje Scheepstra gets an easy goal to enliven the Dutch crowd.
The vocal Orangje crowd do everything they can to get behind their team, but the Germans continue to be resolute in defence, and dangerous on the counter. Germany secure their first ever gold in the women’s competition with a tactical performance that thwarted the Dutch throughout the game.