[img_assist|nid=5179|title=Groundhog day|desc=The Olympic Games hockey medal matches are repeats of pool games of August 5 when GB and Australia drew (Pictured Ashley Jackson and Barry Middleton celebrate James Tindall’s equaliser – hockeyimages.co.uk) and Netherlands beat Germany 3-1|link=node|align=right|width=220|height=146]LONDON, August 11 – Olympic champions Germany will attempt to stop record-breaking Netherlands from claiming their third Olympic title, and first since Sydney 2000, on the final day of hockey at the Riverbank Arena.
Great Britain, meanwhile, will try to upset world No.1 Australia f and win their first men’s hockey Olympic medal since Seoul 1988.
Tournament conversion rates at the start of play on Saturday are: 18% for field goal attempts, 28% for penalty corner attempts.
Classification 5-6 – Spain v Belgium (11:30)
- Spain’s chances of a place in the semifinals ended with a controversial 1-1 draw against Great Britain in their final pool match on Tuesday.
- The match umpire reversed two late penalty corner decisions to the benefit of Great Britain, as Spain pushed for the winning goal they needed to qualify.
- Belgium beat India 3-0 in their final pool match on Tuesday. Jerome Dekeyser, Gauthier Boccard and Tom Boon on his 100th international appearance, scored Belgium’s goals.
- Belgium’s two losses in the tournament were against the teams who will contest the gold medal match. They lost 2-1 to Germany in their opening match and 3-1 to Netherlands in their second match.
- Spain have converted 5/27 (19%) field goal attempts, Belgium 6/47 (13%).
- At the end of the pool stage, only Australia (77) and Germany (61) had more field goal attempts than Belgium.
- Spain have converted 3/14 (21%) penalty corner chances, Belgium 2/12 (17%).
- The teams have met six times, all in the pool stage at the Olympic Games, with Spain winning five and Belgium one.
- The last meeting was a 4-2 win for Spain in their opening pool match at Beijing 2008.
- Pol Amat, Santiago Freixa, Xavier Ribas and Victor Sojo scored for Spain, Jerome Truyens and Jerome Dekeyser for Belgium.
- Belgium’s only Olympic win against Spain was 3-2 at Montreal 1976.
- Belgium qualified for London 2012 by finishing fourth at the 2011 Euro Hockey championship.
- In that tournament, Belgium came back from 2-0 down to beat Spain 3-2 in their final pool match to qualify for the semifinals ahead of them.
- Consequently Spain finished sixth and missed direct qualification to London 2012.
- Juan Fernandez and Roc Oliva scored for Spain, Maxime Luycx, Tom Boon and Jerome Dekeyser for Belgium.
Bronze medal match – Australia v Great Britain (15:30)
- Despite leading the match twice, Australia suffered a second-half comeback by Germany to lose their semifinal 4-2 on Thursday.
- Australia lost leads twice in the pool stage, from 2-0 up against Argentina and from 3-0 up against Great Britain.
- Great Britain were thrashed 9-2 by Netherlands in their semifinal, a result that equalled their biggest Olympic defeat.
- Australia were responsible for one of those seven-goal defeats, winning 7-0 at Tokyo 1964.
- Great Britain were also beaten 8-1 by Pakistan at Sydney 2000.
- Great Britain conceded more goals against Netherlands (nine) than in their other four pool matches combined (eight).
- Australia have converted 15/89 (17%) field goal attempts, Great Britain 8/46 (17%).
- Only Netherlands (15) have scored as many field goals as Australia.
- Australia have converted 7/28 (25%) penalty corner chances, Great Britain 8/25 (32%).
- Australia have had the most field goal attempts (89) and penalty corner chances (28) in the tournament.
- Australia have converted 7/28 (25%) penalty corner chances, Great Britain 8/25 (32%).
- Only Netherlands (nine) have scored more goals from penalty corner chances than Great Britain (eight).The teams have met 12 times at the Olympic Games with four wins each and four draws. Their last two Olympic meetings have been 3-3 draws in the pool stage.
- Australia scored a 68th-minute equaliser at Beijing 2008 and Great Britain a 66th-minute equaliser at London 2012.
- Great Britain have not beaten Australia at the Olympic Games since a 3-2 semifinal win at Seoul 1988.
- Australia have won a hockey medal at the five Olympic Games since that 1988 defeat, the longest continuing medal streak.
Gold medal match – Germany v Netherlands (20:00)
- Germany came from behind twice with a strong second-half performance to beat Australia 4-2 in their semifinal on Thursday.
- Netherlands scored nine goals in an Olympic match for the first time to beat Great Britain 9-2 in their semifinal.The win equalled Netherlands’ biggest Olympic win, having beaten Hong Kong 7-0 at Tokyo 1964 and Argentina 7-0 at Mexico City 1968.
- Netherlands beat Germany 3-1 in their fourth pool match at London 2012.
- Bob De Voogd, Teun de Nooijer and Mink van der Weerden scored for Netherlands, Christopher Zeller for Germany.
- Germany have converted 13/67 (19%) field goal attempts, Netherlands 15/59 (25%).
- Only Australia (89) have had more field goal attempts than Germany and Netherlands.
- Germany have converted 5/25 (20%) penalty corner chances, Netherlands 9/19 (47%).
- Netherlands have scored more goals from penalty corner chances than any other team.
- Only South Africa (63%) have a better conversion rate from penalty corner chances than Netherlands.
- Mink van der Weerden (NED) is the tournament’s top goalscorer with seven goals, six from penalty corner chances.
- Florian Fuchs (GER) and Billy Bakker (NED) have both scored more field goals (six) in the tournament than anyone else.
- The teams have met eight times at the Olympic Games, with Netherlands winning five times, Germany twice and there has been one draw.
- Four of their Olympic matches have been semifinals, each denying the other a place in the Olympic final twice.They have met at each of the past four Olympic Games.
- Prior to London 2012, their last Olympic meeting was in the semifinal at Beijing 2008 when Germany won 4-3 on penalty strokes after a 1-1 draw.
- At Beijing 2008, Christopher Zeller (GER) scored the winning goal in the first round of sudden-death and Germany went on to win gold.They also met in the semifinal at Athens 2004, Netherlands winning 3-2.Their first Olympic meeting was at Amsterdam 1928 when Netherlands won 2-1.
- Germany beat Netherlands 4-2 in the final of the 2011 Euro Hockey championship. Philipp Zeller, Moritz Fuerste, Florian Fuchs and Oliver Korn scored for Germany, Roderick Weusthof and Teun ne Nooijer for Netherlands.
- In the champions trophy competition, Germany have only beaten Netherlands twice in 19 matches since 1996, and not since a 4-3 win in the pool stage in 2004.
