The Hockey World Cup co-hosts are both still in the quarter-final stages – and that is a blessing for tournament organisers.
While the Dutch confirmed their last eight berth last week, Spain made sure of their place on Wednesday with a tight 1-0 win over Spain in Terrassa in front of 5,000 fans on Sunday night.
“Sometimes you encounter obstacles along the way. And if plan “A” does not come out, another must be applied,” Spain coach Adrian Lock told reporters after a late goal saw his side beat India 1-0.
“We defended very well, the team understood the importance of standing out in defence and the goal had to be kept at zero. Because in this scenario, a goal changed everything.”
In an otherwise forgettable match, it took a moment of brilliance too to see off India and stave off a shoot-out. Savita had been a standout for India in the backlines and it looked set up for the first shoot-out of the tournament to settle this one.
But three minutes from time, Clara Ycart saw space and went on a weaving, magnetic run before finding Marta Segú at close range.
A green and a yellow card then left Spain down to nine for the last 90 seconds, but they held on – India just falling short when it mattered – to set up a quarter-final with Australia.
England are likely to play Korea in the earlier match at 7pm, with the hosts set to push back at 9:30pm.
