England 4 defeated Japan 3

Goals: Richard Mantell PC 29m, Richard Alexander PC 50m, Jonty Clarke FG 61m, Rob Moore FG 66m; Takahiko Yamabori PC 10m PC 70+m, Yoshihiro Anai PC 59m

The match between the two teams at the bottom of the table started off the day in Boom, as England still without points took on Japan. The match saw the result seesawing from Japan taking the lead to England taking over to Japan pulling even to England reclaiming the lead and extending it to two goals. A late consolation goal diminished their lead again but the match was won.

Japan's number one penalty corner striker Takahiko Yamabori gave his team an early advantage in the match with a flick to the bottom left corner of the goal. England improved steadily and managed the equalizer late in the first half when Richard Mantell put his showpiece penalty corner flick on display but were lucky to head into the break with a draw as their shaky start should have given Japan a bigger lead.

After being told off at high volume during half time by coach Jason Lee, England took charge in the second half and made the game theirs. They had several chances until Richard Alexander could take advantage of a rebound at a complicated penalty corner to give his team the lead for the first time in the match.

Ten minutes later however, Yoshihiro Anai deflected a Yamabori hit at an penalty corner to put his team level again which set Japan off to a campaign of furious attacking but their efforts came to nothing. Instead, Jonty Clarke made good use of a nice piece of attacking play by England, lobbing the ball over Shunsuke Nagaoka to regain the lead for England.

Rob Moore then piled on another goal with a surprise reverse stick shot from a situation that never really looked dangerous, and with the two goal lag with less than four minutes to go, Japan's fate was sealed. The Asians got one back with Takahiko Yamabori sinking his second penalty corner after time, but England had won the game for their first points in the tournament.

 

Argentina 2 defeated India 1

Goals: Jorge Lombi PC 39m, Mario Almada FG 60m; Sandeep Singh PS 64m

In a scrappy match with few memorable scenes, Argentina were the lucky party at the end, taking home three points that may well be decisive in the battle for the berths in the final.

The first half of the match ended goalless and saw a reversal of roles, Argentina being the stronger team at the beginning but trailing off to see India dominate the end of the first 35 minutes. After the break, Jorge Lombi made good use of his third  attempt at a penalty corner, flicking the ball hard past Adrian D'Souza to give Argentina the lead.

India wasn't about to concede defeat however, and attcaked relentlessly while the Argentine defense struggled more and more as time wore on. India had scores of opportunities in the second half, including several penalty corners, but they were unlucky. Goalkeeper Mariano Chao, playing his first match in the tournament as Juan Vivaldi stayed in the stands today, was often the one to deny them, his excellent saves a crucial element in Argentina's success today.

In the 60th minute finally, it was Mario Almada, the flamboyant Argentine captain, who delivered the undisputed highlight of the match, scoring the second goal for Argentina with a reverse stick hit after a spectacular solo run and outplaying several opponents. In the following minutes, India had a string of penalty corners which eventually gave them a penalty stroke when the ball hit post man Fernando Zylberberg's foot.

Sandeep Singh seized the opportunity to reduced Argentina's lead to one goal, and India fired from all cylinders in the remaining six minutes to salvage a point from the encounter but to no avail. Argentina took the glory and are now in a slightly better position for the last round of pool matches that will decide which team joins New Zealand in the final.

 

New Zealand 3 drew Belgium 3

Goals: Simon Child FG 14m FG 27m, Dean Couzins PS 19m; Thomas Briels FG 8m, Xavier Reckinger FG 17m, Charles Vandeweghe FG 38m

New Zealand and the home team concluded the day with the most exciting match of the day, an open battle between the unexpectedly equal teams in which the hosts became the first team to take points off table leaders New Zealand in this tournament.

Belgium opened the scoring in the 8th minute, when Thomas Briels took advantage of good skills and smart playing by Charles Vandeweghe to score his second goal of the event. Little later however, the Blacksticks' young star Simon Child put away his first of two goals today however to level scores. Belgium soon pulled away again, when Xavier Reckinger deflected a free hit from Thomas van den Balck into the net.

Only two minutes later, New Zealand were awarded a penalty stroke after John-John Dohmen had fouled Simon Child, and Dean Couzins - sporting the captain's armband after an injury early in the game had put Ryan Archibald out of the match - made no mistake, putting the ball into the left side of the goal. Simon Child scored his second a few minutes later to take the teams into half time at 3-2 in the Blacksticks' favor.

The second half was somewhat less frantic than the first but still one of the most attractive pieces of hockey in this tournament so far. Action seesawed back and forth, and it was a lone second half goal, scored by Charles Vandeweghe to crown a fantastic performance today that made him a key player for his side in this match, that established the final score of 3-3 between the two teams.

This draw is enough for the Kiwis however to secure their berth in the tournament final, their opponents either Argentina or India, depending on Saturday's results.