Argentina beat Britain, face Dutch in final

LONDON: World champions Argentina beat Britain's women hockey team 2-1 on Wednesday to set up a London Olympics gold medal final against reigning champions the Netherlands, who squeezed past New Zealand in a thrilling penalty shootout.

Argentina dominated hosts Britain throughout much of the semi-final, in which Las Leonas treated the 16,000 strong crowd to a display of magnificent stick and passing skills, while Britain often struggled to string their passes together.

Just five minutes into the game, Argentina's Noel Barrionuevo flicked a penalty corner through British defender Crista Cullen's legs for the 1-0 lead.

With three minutes to go before half-time, Aymar, having won a ball back from four British players ran down the left touchline, passed to Carla Rebecchi, who took it down the baseline and, falling over the British goalkeeper's legs, pushed the ball into the goal for the halftime 2-0 lead.

Britain's players surrounded the umpire claiming there had been an obstruction in the lead-up to the goal but there was no change of decision.

Teams can call on a video referral for offences in the last quarter of the pitch, but the obstruction happened near halfway.

Britain, who played much more offensively in the second half, grabbed a goal back when Alex Danson scored with just six minutes to go, deflecting a hard pass across the circle from Helen Richardson, but their last-minute rally came too late. (Reuters)