Japan 4 defeated Belgium 3

Goals: Katsuyoshi Nagasawa FG 25m, Takahiko Yamabori PC 27m, Kazuo Yoshida PS 57m, Yoshihiro Anai FG 68m; Jerome Dekeyser PC 17m PC 21m, Amaury de Cock FG 62m

In the first match of the day, Japan had the better start, but initially had to succumb to Belgium's specialty, the penalty corner. Now that corner superstar Jean-Philippe Brule has ended his career, the Belgians can still count on their most reliable weapon, performed by Gregory Gucasoff and Jerome Dekeyser. Today, it was Dekeyser who hit home two in the first half to give the hosts a two goal lead.

But Japan weren't about to be beat quite so easily, and got two back before the break to go into half time with level scores. First, it was Katsuyoshi Nagasawa who tipped in the rebound off a shot on goal, then Takahiko Yamabori added a penalty corner converted with a flick to the top right corner of the goal.

From the on it was open battle. Belgium worked hard to create opportunities but had little success while Japan had a string of penalty corners, the last of which ended up deflected high to hit Thomas van den Balck's chest on the line to give Japan a penalty stroke. Kazuo Yoshida used the opportunity wisely and set a well tempered ball into the right side of the net to give Japan the lead for the first time in the match.

Five minutes later, Belgium managed to pull level again when sloppy defending by Japan allowed Amaury de Cock to receive the ball alone on the edge of the circle and hammer it home for Belgium's third. It looked like the two teams were headed for overtime, but then, with less than two minutes to go, a furious counter attack by the Asians gave Yoshihiro Anai the ball high up in the Belgian half, and he put it away for the winning goal.

Japan thus finished fifth in the tournament, confining the hosts to last place despite their good showing. Belgium have a young side however, and have shown much promise in this event. It seems certain they will create a stir in years to come.

 

India 4 defeated England 3

Goals: Tushar Khandker FG 3m FG 6m, Sandeep Singh PC 14m, Roshan Minz FG 22m; Rob Moore FG 34m, James Tindall PC 55m, Simon Mantell PC 63m

In the bronze medal match, India came out blazing, catching England entirely on the wrong foot. Within little more than 20 minutes, Joaquim Carvalho's boys were 4 goals ahead, and it didn't look like England had anything to offer today.

With less than 6 minutes on the clock, Tushar Khandker had already scored twice for his team, taking advantage of an English defense that had severe difficulties to get orientated, and little later, Sandeep Singh added another with a cracking penalty corner flick. Roshan Minz piled on the fourth goal for the Asians, scoring on the rebound, while England had only just started getting their bearings together.

Shortly before the break, Rob Moore managed to get his team on the scoreboard, tipping a lovely pass from Martin Jones over the line to set England on the way to catching up but the Brits still faced a steep uphill battle in the second half. Moore's goal was the start to a miraculous comeback however, James Tindall hitting home a rebound off a Simon Mantell shot, and Simon Mantell going for glory hiself minutes later.

But there were only seven minutes left on the clock, and as desperately as England pushed forward, the equalizer eluded them. India clung to their lead and took the bronze in this tournament in which they have certainly shown an upward trend and more organized hockey than India have produced in a long time.

 

Argentina 3 defeated New Zealand 2

Goals: Hayden Shaw PC 44m PC 49m; Jorge Lombi PC 66m PC 67m PC 75m

In the tournament final, New Zealand, the strongest team in the pool round, met Argentina. The two teams had drawn only yesterday when they met in their last pool match, and today's match was equal into the second half too.

In the first half, both teams had their opportunities but could not make anything off them, and no goals were scored, though not for a lack of trying. The Blacksticks looked slightly stronger, but Argentina held up to them, and were able to create danger on a few quick counter attacks.

After the break, Argentina soon found themselves one man down after repeatedly breaking the line early on a string of short corners, then had to swallow two goals from Hayden Shaw, first sinking one of his trademark cracker flicks, then surprising the Argentineans with a tempered ball to the bottom left corner.

Argentina subsequently had a number of penalty corners, but Jorge Lombi failed to deliver time and again. He did come through when it mattered however, and finally sank his first four minutes from the end, slotting a ball in between the goalkeeper and the left post. He added another within a minute, producing when it was needed most, and getting his team into the sought after overtime.

Within five minutes of overtime, Jorge Lombi went on to pronounce himself the undisputed man of the match, sinking another penalty corner as the golden goal that gave Argentina the tournament win and the coveted berth in next year's Champions Trophy tournament, to be held in Rotterdam during the last week of June 2008.