Paris — The might of orange nearly turned into a night of red as China came within nine minutes of causing one of Olympic sport’s biggest upsets, let alone hockey.
On a night of high, tension-riddled drama, the Netherlands won on shoot-out, 3-1, to become the first nation to lift both men’s and women’s Olympic titles at the same time. This win was their fourth in five Olympics. And how China nearly became the second, after Team GB in 2016, to send the Dutch home stunned.
Masterminded brilliantly by Alyson Annan, Netherlands’ former coach who sat motionless in that Rio dug out, China had led with a sixth-minute goal to leave nearly all of the orange-clad 15,000 at Yves-du-Manoir in shock. From then on, it was a near one-way assault as a post was rattled and circle penetrations grew late on. All the while, one-on-one China jabbed, thrusted and tackled for their lives.
It was left to Yibbi Jansen, with her ninth of the tournament, to send a roar across Colombes. Relief was etched across Dutch coach Paul van Ass after 45 minutes searching for a way to break Chinese resolve. Silver would be seen as a failure. 1-1 at full-time was anything but after China had rattled his side for a majority of this final sell out.
China, and the Netherlands, had held out for the shoot-out, a second in two nights after the Dutch men finally won a major title after 24 years (and Paul’s son Seve left the international arena with gold). The women have won all before them since 2004, while China, who have practiced shoot-outs after every training session for 18 months, still had one chance to dampen the Oranje party.
After several minutes wait as the shoot-out technology was given the green light, it was left to the composed Anne Veenedaal to take command of the 23m lottery.
The Amsterdam keeper kept out three Chinese attempts as Pien Sanders, Maria Verschoor and Marijn Veen steered theirs home. As the Dutch celebrated wildly towards Veenedaal, the Chinese players shed no tears. Within moments, they were walking the pitch and smiling. What a performance.
From finishing fourth in their Pool to reaching the final, Annan, a coach at three successive Olympics, will now surely be heavily rewarded on her way to the 2026 World Cup. Hosted by the Dutch, world hockey has another force to contend with.
This ever-so-narrow victory – China have now lost 30 in a row against the Dutch – now means the following. Since the Rio final, the Netherlands record reads as thus: 174 matches, 155 wins, 13 draws and just six defeats. A staggering set of statistics.
How China nearly produced epic upset
China soaked up early Dutch retention but with a tight move on the right, the ball was fed into Chen Yi whose deflection bypassed Renee van Laarhoven. Such was the silenced that took hold, one would have assumed it was a penalty corner won in the sixth minute, not the opening goal in this final.
Under Annan since 2022, this China side have more in their armoury than the defence which they have been traditionally associated with. For the remainder of the quarter, they were under siege, but Jiao Ye only had to make one boot save of note. This was a well-drilled, compact China as they battled 60-40 possession.
Ninety seconds into the second quarter, the Dutch were allowed to run centrally, ending with a first penalty corner after a Chinese pick off the line from Yang Liu. China had successfully reviewed eight of 13 referrals (another string to their bow). It was upheld and soon nine.
China were continuing to pick off Dutch slaps into the circle. A hopeful hit into the circle did finally yield a first corner. With no Yibbi Jansen on the field, Frederique Matla rattled the post.
With the next move, Freeke Moes danced into the circle and umpire Sarah Wilson pointed for a stroke. The referral ended with a corner. Jansen’s flick was charged down. Dogged China had ended the half with no corners, defending to the hilt and, with it, the lead.
Were they beginning to think the unthinkable? An edgy, silent atmosphere was evident as the third quarter moved on. Dutch passes were going astray and Paul van Ass’ side were finding flow and possession difficult. With five minutes left of the third, Meirong Zou had a rare sight of goal and dragged wide.
With 90 seconds left, Matla then dragged just wide with the Oranje’s third corner. So close that a tumultuous roar went up thinking Ye’s goal had been breached.
Veenedaal made sure China didn’t do the same with their first penalty corner of the game with 13 minutes left, with a left glove save. Now the game was open. And the Chinese midfield. With Jansen on field, she struck sweetly to Ye’s left. The roar was deafening. A smile, almost in relief, came across Van Ass’ face as he turned to the dugout.
With two minutes left Ye saved, with Jansen again opting to go to her left side. A Chinese PC was then overturned with 40 seconds left.
What they said…
“We were really close. We fought hard. Getting to a shootout is pretty good. They were better in the shootout today. Look, six months ago, a year ago, two years ago, we wouldn’t have thought we’d be here. This is just amazing.”
Alyson Annan
“It was a very close game. Well, we attacked, and they defended. But because they got a goal so early, they had the time to defend. And they defended very well. And we couldn’t convert a lot of penalty corners. If you get five, six penalty corners, and you score one or two, then the game is open, and they have to come, but we couldn’t do that. And that was very close. But the girls played good hockey.”
Paul van Ass
