GO USA Field
Hockey!!!
The Olympics have been dominating my life for the past week
and so far I have managed to watch beach volleyball, fencing, judo, gymnastics,
handball, cycling, tennis, water polo, equestrian, shooting, archery, swimming,
diving, indoor volleyball, soccer, rowing, wrestling, weightlifting, table
tennis, and some of the running preliminaries, but by far my favorite has been
watching USA FIELD HOCKEY!
To set the stage I think it’s worth mentioning that field
hockey venue is located right next to the swimming venue making it in the
middle of all the action. The other unique thing about the field hockey venue
is that they are playing on a blue turf field with PINK sidelines. It looks
awesome!! The Olympic organizers decided that the blue turf makes it easier for
the viewers to see the ball and watching at home I didn’t have any problems
seeing the ball.
The way the Olympic field hockey tournament works is that
the teams are split into 2 groups of 6 with the top 2 from each group advancing
to compete for the medals. Team USA is joined by Argentina, Germany, New
Zealand, Australia, and South Africa in Group B. Team USA started off the
tournament against a strong German team. We looked a little jittery in the
first half and gave up a couple of goals. The first goal was on a penalty
corner with the German player unleashing a crazy drag flick from the top of the
circle. The second goal for German came on a numbers up situation and was a
beautiful reverse chip shot into the upper right corner of the goal. Team USA
really picked up the pace coming out of halftime. They looked much more calm
and were doing a great job keeping possession and being patient on defense.
Their hard work was rewarded with a goal on a penalty corner making it a
one-goal game. Team USA really put pressure on the German team until the end of
the game including pulling the goalie and putting in a kicking back to generate
more attack. Unfortunately we came up short losing to Germany 2-1, but I think
they were really able to work out the kinks in preparation for the Argentina
game.
The USA vs. Argentina game is a rematch of the 2011 Pan
American field hockey championship game where the USA upset the number one
ranked Argentine team to earn an Olympic berth. Since then, the Argentina team
has dropped in rankings to number 2 in the world and I’m sure they were out for
revenge. The USA team really picked off where they left off in the Germany game
and looked confident. They were generating great attack and working hard to
keep Argentina’s attack under control. Finally towards the end of the first
half, Team USA got a goal on a beautiful diving tip on a cross into the circle.
Even though we had the lead, Team USA never settled and kept attacking for the
rest of the game. The defense also really buckled down and Team USA walked away
another upset victory against Argentina.
Watching these awesome field hockey games has really made me
want to pick up my stick and play! Team USA is off to a strong start and I
can’t wait to watch them in their remaining games!!!
GO TEAM USA!!
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