Day 6: The eight teams who will contest the quarter-finals of the men’s hockey competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are now known, with Great Britain, Australia and Argentina joining Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, India and Spain in the knock-out stages.
While the teams are confirmed, the fixtures for the quarter-finals remain unknown but will become clear when the final round of pool matches are completed on Friday 2nd August.
In the women’s competition, Pool B frontrunners Australia and Argentina played out a thrilling 3-3 draw to hold onto the top two places, while Great Britain and Spain reached the quarter-finals with wins by defeating – and subsequently eliminating – USA and South Africa respectively.
It was also a milestone day for Belgium’s Felix Denayer, who became only the eighth player in history to play 400 international hockey matches. Denayer joins an exclusive club containing team-mate John-John Dohmen (478), Teun de Nooijer (NED – 453), Eddie Ockenden (AUS – 448), Barry Middleton (GBR – 432), Dilip Tirkey (IND – 412), Waseem Ahmed (PAK – 410) and Jeroen Delmee (NED – 401)
More information on today’s matches can be found below. For additional information about the Pool Rankings and the various splitters, please click here (Appendix 2, art. 2.2).
Men’s Pool A
Great Britain fought back from a goal down to defeat hosts France 2-1 to seal their place in the knock-out phase of the competition. On the occasion of Phil Roper’s 100th appearance for GB, goals from Zach Wallace and James Albery moved Great Britain up to second in the pool and ended French hopes of reaching the last eight.
Wallace believes his team are growing into the tournament, stating: “We’re playing better each game, and that’s important. In a hockey tournament, you don’t want to be playing your best hockey in the first game. We want to be playing our best hockey in the eighth game, the gold medal match.”
Men’s Pool B
Olympic champions Belgium got the better of India in a pulsating early morning encounter, making it four wins from four as veteran midfielder John-John Dohmen – playing a world recording extending 478 international match – sealed a 2-1 triumph for the Red Lions. Reflecting on joining Dohmen in the 400 club, Felix Denayer said: “It’s a special milestone. To be able to reach that is special, to be able to play that one at the Olympics, and to top the pool. I couldn’t wish for anything better.”
Australia bounced back from their 6-2 loss against Belgium with a crushing victory over Oceania rivals New Zealand, as Blake Govers bagged a hat-trick to end the Black Sticks’s Olympic hopes. “We expected it to be fast, we expected it to pile on the pressure a bit with the heat”, said Australia’s Tom Wickham, who also netted in the contest. “We needed to make sure we stuck with our processes, and it was really good to get the result.”
Ireland were eliminated from the competition by Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallists Argentina, with Maico Casella scoring the crucial goal as Los Leones emerged 2-1 winners to seal a ticket to the quarter-finals. “We are very happy with the win”, said Casella. “We still have some things to fix and we are capable of fixing them.”
Women’s Pool B
The big game of the day saw Pool B’s top two meet, with Australia missing two penalty strokes before a last second equaliser from Maria Williams earned a 3-3 draw with Argentina. It was dramatic end to a wonderful game of hockey between the respective continental champion of Oceania and Pan America, with a raucous crowd replicating the intense energy being displayed on the field of play.
Rio 2016 gold medallists Great Britain produced their best performance of the competition with a thumping 5-2 win over USA, Tess Howard netting a double to secure GB’s place in the quarter finals. “This was a must-win game and we weren’t able to make that happen”, said USA’s Abigail Tamer, reflecting on her team’s elimination. “But there were a lot of learnings that we want to take from it and we’re going to keep going forward.”
Belen Iglesias scored the only goal of the game as Spain defeated South Africa to safely progress into the knock-out stages. “It was super nice”, said Iglesias, commenting on scoring. “My parents are in the stands, a lot of family are here, my brother too. We’re just really happy that we can spend this time together since Tokyo (2020) was far away.”
Women’s Pool A
There was also one match in women’s Pool A, with Japan claiming their first three points of the competition as a solitary goal from Mai Toriyama downed host nation France. The result means that Sakura Japan remain alive in the competition, although they need to beat reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands and hope for a huge goal difference swing to have any chance of progressing.
Further information and statistics on all of today’s matches can be found by clicking here.
Notable figures attending the Olympic hockey at Yves-du-Manoir on Day 6 included Argentina hockey greats Luciana Aymar and Delfina Merino, Indian tennis star Rohan Bopana, revered Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel and Kosei Inoue, who won Olympic gold in Judo for Japan at Sydney 2000.
The Paris 2024 Olympic hockey competition continues on Friday 2 August with the completion of the men’s pool phase which will finalise the competition quarter finals.
In men’s Pool A, the Netherlands (3rd – 7pts) and Spain (4th – 7pts) go head-to-head at 10:30 CEST on Pitch 2, with France (6th – 1pt) and South Africa (5th – 1pt) facing each other on Pitch 1 at 19:45 before unbeaten Great Britain (2nd – 8pts) play Germany (1st – 9pts) at 20:15 on Pitch 2.
In men’s Pool B, Australia (2nd – 9pts) and India (3rd – 7pts) clash on Pitch 2 at 12:45, with Ireland (5th – 0pts) taking on New Zealand (6th – 0pts) at 17:00 on Pitch 1 and Belgium (1st – 12pts) playing Argentina (4th – 4pts) on Pitch 2 at 17:30.
There are also two crucially important matches in women’s Pool A, with China (4th – 3pts) facing Germany (3rd – 6pts) at 10:00 on Pitch 1 before Belgium (1st – 9pts) and the Netherlands (2nd – 9pts) meet on the same pitch at 12:45 in a top of the table encounter.
The hockey competitions at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 take place from Saturday 27 July to Friday 9 August. Both the men’s and women’s competitions feature 12 teams, split into two pools of six ahead of quarter-finals, semi-finals and medal matches. For more information about the hockey competitions at Paris 2024, visit Olympics.Hockey.
Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Hockey
1 August 2024 – Day 6
Results
Men’s Pool A
France 1-2 Great Britain
Men’s Pool B
India 1-2 Belgium
New Zealand 0-5 Australia
Argentina 2-1 Ireland
Women’s Pool A
Japan 1-0 France
Women’s Pool B
USA 2-5 Great Britain
Spain 1-0 South Africa
Argentina 3-3 Australia
