The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
(BEIJING, August 19) -- China takes on defending gold medalists Germany in the first semifinal of the evening before the number one and two ranked teams in the competition, the Netherlands and Argentina, meet, at the Olympic Green Hockey Stadium on Wednesday, August 20.
Germany and China will compete with each other in the first semifinal. Both teams have suffered one loss en route to the semifinals and now have everything to play for in this match. Fu Baorong and Tang Chunling of China and Fanny Rinne and Natascha Keller of Germany will be looking to play key roles for their teams.
China will need to win this match for their best finish-ever in the Olympics while Germany is hoping to defend its title. The last time the teams met was in the 2008 Champions Trophy where Germany won 2-0.
The Netherlands will face Argentina in the second semifinal. Both teams are undefeated in this competition -- the Netherlands gained the maximum 15 points in the preliminary rounds while Argentina collected 11 points after draws with the United States and Great Britain. The Netherlands is ranked No. 1 in this competition while Argentina, the 2008 Champions Trophy champions, is No. 2.
The Dutch have a lethal penalty corner weapon in Maartje Paumen, the leading goal scorer in the competition with eight while Argentina's playmaker Luciana Aymar has found form and will be a force to be reckoned with. The last time the teams met was in the 2008 Champions Trophy when Argentina won 2-0.
The first match of the day will kick off between the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan as the classification 9-10. The worst finish the ROK has had in the Olympics was in Sydney where it finished ninth while Japan, in its first Olympics appearance in Athens, finished eighth. The match is a repeat of the 2004 Athens Games 7-8 Classification game in which the ROK won 3-1. Both teams will do their best to win this match to salvage some pride after unimpressive performances in the preliminary rounds.
In the matches of classification 7-8, Spain will meet the United States. The US team has produced some good results in pool B, but its defeat by Germany meant it could only finish fourth in the pool. Spain was unlucky to be placed in a tough pool with Australia, China and the Netherlands, but a fourth place finish in the pool is a good result for the team. Both teams have shown the potential of matching the top teams in the competition, but a lack of experience prevented them from achieving a higher finish.
