FIH Women’s Olympic Qualifiers 2024: Determined Japan holds Germany to 1 1 draw; Chile dominates Czech Republic 6 0

A determined Japanese side held higher ranked Germany to a 1 1 draw in their second Pool A match in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers on Sunday. Both Germany and Japan have four points after two games and a draw against the Czech Republic and Chile, respectively, in their final group stage games will be enough to secure a spot in the semifinals.

World No. 11 Japan, coached by former Indian goalkeeper Jude Menezes, committed to defending deep in its half for a major part against high pressing Die Danas. The approach needed both Japanese goalkeepers Eika Nakamura (first and third quarter) and Akio Tanaka (second and fourth quarter) as well as defenders Yu Asai, Miyu Suzuki and Kana Urata to put their bodies on the line, and they did their job resolutely.

Every save by Nakamura and Tanaka received loud cheers and applause from 20 25 Japanese fans as well as the local crowd at the Marang Gamke Jaipal Singh AstroTurf Stadium as The Cherry Blossoms kept a clean sheet at the end of the first half despite conceding as many as 13 penalty corners. Valentin Altenburg’s side ranked fifth in the world, broke the deadlock five minutes into the second half.

Emma Davidsmeyer entered the Japanese shooting circle from the right flank before putting the ball across to Charlotte Stapenhorst, whose shot aimed towards the right corner was blocked by Nakamura, but an alert Lisa Nolte managed to tuck the rebound past the Japanese goalkeeper. Falling behind forced Japan to change its approach and find a way through the German defence instead of waiting for an opportunity to counter attack.

With 44 seconds left on the clock before the end of the third quarter, a foul by Lena Micheel on Chiko Fujibayashi earned Japan its first PC. A melee in front of the German goalline post a block by custodian Nathalie Kubalski ended with Miyu Hasegawa finding the bottom right corner to restore parity.

Germany came close to scoring the winning goal and breaking Japanese hearts in the final quarter as Stapenhorst showed exceptional 3D skills to make a solo run into the circle but ended up hitting wide of the left corner. Earlier in the day, Pan American Games bronze medallist Chile registered a 6 0 win over the Czech Republic and gave a massive boost to its goal difference.

Chile entered half time with a 1 0 lead courtesy a 13th minute strike from Consuelo de las Heras. It proved to be the calm before the storm as Sergio Vigil’s side wreaked havoc in the second half, scoring five goals against the lowest ranked team in the competition with two of those coming from the skipper Manuela Urroz.

However, Chile needs to beat Japan in its final group game on Tuesday to qualify for the last four stage. In case of a draw, the South American nation will have to depend on the already knocked Czech team to upset Germany, the highest ranked side in the competition. Germany 1 (Lisa Notle 35’) drew with Japan (Hasegawa 45’) 1 Chile 6 (Consuelo de las Heras 13’, Manuela Urroz 36’, 47’, Camila Caram 38’, Antonia Morales Orchard 44’, Maria Maldonado 58’) beat Czech Republic 0 Comments Related Topics.