In the third of four women’s quarter-finals, reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands overcame a stubborn Great Britain side to reach the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey semi-finals, with Lune Fokke scoring twice in a 3-1 victory over the Rio 2016 gold medallists.
The result means that the Netherlands will face Argentina – who defeated Germany in a shoot-out earlier in the day – in the semi-finals on Wednesday (7 August), which is a repeat of the gold medal game from Tokyo 2020.
The Oranje exploded out of the blocks in the contest, with team captain Xan de Waard smashing home from a tight angle after just 49 seconds. While it was the worst possible start for GB, the Netherlands’ failure to press home their advantage was punished early in the second quarter by Great Britain’s Hannah French, who pounced on a penalty corner rebound to level the scores.
However, the Dutch restored their lead just before half time when Luna Fokke guided a penalty corner deflection into the net. The 23-year-old midfielder put the game beyond Great Britain’s reach a minute into the final quarter, passing into an unguarded net after GB goalkeeper Miriam Pritchard’s fine save fell directly into Fokke’s path. It was a valiant effort from Great Britain, but the Netherlands were worthy winners, qualifying for the Olympic semi-finals for the eighth successive Games.
“We really needed to fight hard today, I think we defended quite well”, said Netherlands defender Renee van Laarhoven after the match. “When the 1-1 score came I think we were a bit unlucky, but we knew we needed to defend harder and give more energy. After making it 2-1 we thought we need to push through now, otherwise this turns into a long game. I’m very happy we made it 3-1. It’s all about the results, in these games. I’m so happy we go into the semi-finals, absolutely.”
Looking ahead to their semi-final meeting with their great rivals Argentina, Van Laarhoven said: “I think we always have great, amazing games against Argentina. I mean, we know they have loads of passion. They give it their all. We saw it against Germany today, again. We always love to play against them, and I think they love to play against us as well. It’s always a great fight. And, yeah, we can’t wait to keep going.”
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.
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