Ranchi, Jan 19 (PTI) Chile rode on Fernanda Villigran’s penalty strike in the second quarter to beat Czech Republic, the lowest ranked side in the tournament, 1-0 to finish seventh in the FIH Women’s Olympic Qualifier here on Friday.
Even though they failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics, it should be a morale-boosting win for the Chileans, ranked 22nd in the world, over world No. 31 Czech Republic.
Viilligran scored the lone goal in the 27th minute during the seventh-eighth place classification match.
It was Chile’s only second over Czech Republic in the history of the game. The Chileans had also defeated Czech 6-0 in the pool stages here.
Chile were by far the better side on display as they dominated the match from start to end.
Chile kept up the pressure on the Czech defence from the onset and made innumerable circle entries but goals eluded them in the first quarter.
Chile secured two penalty corners in the first quarter as against Czech’s one but both the sides failed to break the deadlock.
It was a midfield battle in the second quarter but Chile managed to earn a penalty stroke just three minutes from half-time for a foul inside the circle and Villigran stepped up to convert the chance, handing her side the lead.
After the change of ends, Chile continued their attacking game and in the process bagged four penalty corners but failed to convert any of them.
The fourth and final quarter was all about Czech’s pressure as the Chileans opted to go into the defensive mode and their ploy succeeded as they managed to hold on to their lead to come out winners.
Source: PTI News
