Side ranked sixth in the world look to cause an upset for best ever World Cup finish
Sunday 5 September 2010
The England Hockey women have reached the semi finals of the BDO FIH World Cup in Rosario, Argentina, with one group match still to play. It is only the second time that England has reached the semi finals of the women’s World Cup and the first time in 20 years.
Saturday’s 2-1 victory over South Africa, coupled with Korea’s 2-2 draw with Spain, means that England cannot be caught in the race for the semi finals and will progress to the final four along with the hosts Argentina, who beat China 2-0.
20 years ago in Sydney, England reached their only previous World Cup semi final against the Netherlands. After going down to the Dutch, England ultimately finished fourth, narrowly beaten to the bronze medal by Korea who won the third place playoff 3-2.
Who England meet in the semi finals is dependent on where they finish in Pool B after Monday’s clash with Argentina (23:30 BST) but it will certainly be one of three sides - the Netherlands, Germany or Australia – all of whom are placed above England in the International Hockey Federation’s world rankings.
Las Leonas, as Argentina are known, are the favourites for the crown and backed by a capacity 12000 strong partisan home crowd they will prove a stern challenge for England’s young side on Monday evening. A win for England would put them through to the semi finals as the Pool B winners while a draw or defeat would see England finish second in the Pool and facing the winners of Pool A. In Nottingham in July, England beat the world’s number two side in the Samsung FIH Champions Trophy before Argentina went on to lift the trophy while England won a first ever Champions Trophy medal, bronze.
