Rio 2016 | Men’s Hockey: Netherlands and Australia to meet in quarters; India to face Belgium

Pool B winners and reigning Olympic champions Germany will take on Pool A’s fourth-ranked team New Zealand, who recorded a stunning victory over Belgium in their final pool match to secure a Quarter-Final place ahead of Great Britain. A second place finish in Pool A has earned Spain a last eight meeting with Pan American champions Argentina, who finished third in the Pool B standings thanks to a narrow 3-2 win over Ireland to deny their opponents a place in the knock-out stages.

All twelve teams were in action on the final day of pool play at the Deodoro Hockey Centre, and the result of every fixture significantly impacted the Quarter-Final line-ups.

Sadly for the Brits, it was not the outcome that they needed, as the Black Sticks produced their best performance of the competition to power to a 3-1 win over the Red Lions. Team captain Simon Child opened the scoring just after half-time before Nick Wilson and Hugo Inglis fired home to seal New Zealand’s ticket to the Quarter-Finals.

World champions Australia (WR: 1) completed the Pool A action with a comfortable 9-0 win over host nation Brazil (WR: 30), with Glenn Turner scoring a hat-trick as the Kookaburras secured the third position in the pool standings. Although the Aussies are yet hit the kind of form that they are capable of, a mouth-watering Quarter-Final against the dazzling Dutch is likely to bring the best out of them.

Earlier in the day, India (WR: 5) were held to a 2-2 draw by Canada (WR: 15), who claimed their first point of the competition thanks to a double strike from Red Caribous team captain Scott Tupper. Akashdeep Singh gave India the lead in the 33rd minute only for Tupper to level almost immediately with a penalty corner. Ramandeep Singh put the Asian champions back in front before Tupper scored another set piece to ensure that their competition ended on a positive note.

Although India had already qualified for the Quarter-Finals, their final placement in the Pool B standings would not be known until after this evening’s Argentina (WR: 7) versus Ireland (WR: 12) match. Argentina needed a victory to move ahead of India into the third position in pool, crucial if they were to avoid a fourth-place finish and a subsequent meeting with Pool A winners Belgium. Ireland came into the match knowing that a win against Los Leones would secure a remarkable Quarter-Final place for a team playing in its first Olympic hockey competition for 108 years. The Green Machine produced a valiant performance, twice levelling the scores through John Jermyn and Shane O’Donoghue, but two goals from penalty corner ace Gonzalo Peillat gave Argentina a 3-2 win to take their place in the Quarter-Finals and break Irish hearts in the process.