A match-up of the last two undefeated teams left in the FIH women’s World Cup will headline Saturday’s semifinals: defending champion Netherlands vs. Australia.
The Dutch won their quarterfinal match against England, 2-0, to run their tournament record to 4-0-0, while the Aussies battled to a scoreless tie against Argentina, then won on penalty shots, 4-3.
In the other quarterfinals, undefeated Germany was surprisingly dismissed by Spain – which was 2-2 – by a 1-0 score from the 54th minute, and Ireland defeated India on penalty kicks (3-1) after a 0-0 tie in regulation time.
So in the semis on Saturday:
Australia (1st in Group D: 2-0-2) vs. Netherlands (1st in Group A: 4-0-0)
Spain (3rd in Group D: 3-2-0) vs. Ireland (1st in Group B: 3-1-0)
The medal matches will be on 5 August. Look for the results here.
This is the 14th women’s World Cup and the Dutch have won seven of the first 13 and two of the last three (in 2006 and 2014) and have made the final in five straight appearances (1998-2002-06-10-14).
Australia has been in five finals, winning in 1994 and 1998 and finishing second in 1990, 2006 and 2014 … each time to the Dutch!
Ireland has never gotten this far; Spain made it to the semis in 2006, but ended up fourth.