World champions Argentina end Australia's hopes

World champions Argentina advanced to the semi-finals of the Olympic Games women's hockey tournament at the expense of Australia following a 0-0 draw between them on Monday. Australia needed a victory in the last pool game, while a draw was enough to give Argentina the top spot in Pool B, which saw a three-way tie on 10 points being resolved through goal difference. Argentina took the top spot, New Zealand finished second and Australia was pushed to the third place. Just a one-goal difference separated New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand made the semi-finals for the first time in 32 years when they drew their last Pool B match with Germany 0-0. Germany were pushed to the fourth spot in the pool. Argentina will play hosts Great Britain in the semi-finals on Wednesday, while New Zealand will take on defending champions Netherlands, who topped Pool A with a 2-1 victory over Britain. Netherlands, who have never lost to Britain at an Olympics, rallied after conceding the first goal to win their fifth successive match. Only the top place in the group was at stake as Britain were gifted a semi-final place earlier in the day when China, the only country that could still qualify ahead of them, lost 1-0 to Asian rivals Japan. Japan's match-winner was scored by stalwart Rika Komazawa in the 54th minute. The Dutch were the better side in the first half but Crista Cullen gave Britain the lead on 20 minutes from their only penalty corner of the match. Her low shot was perfectly placed. Britain's goal had two or three narrow squeaks in the first half but the Dutch continued to build patiently, and when further scoring opportunities came, they took two of them. The Dutch leveled in the 43rd minute from a rather fortunate penalty corner, the ball worked to Naomi van As at the left post. Kitty van Male had a push-in for their second goal in the 52nd minute. Britain's coach Danny Kerry said he had given his team a polite rebuke after the game. "I am pretty disappointed," he said. "I expected much more from my team. They were too edgy, too passive. We went backwards instead of forwards." The Argentina-Australia encounter failed to produce a goal. Australia even took their goalkeeper off the pitch with five five minutes from the end in a desperate effort, but the goal that would have taken them to the semi-finals proved elusive. Germany were the 2004 Olympic champions but they had to beat New Zealand 3-0 to stay in contention this time. New Zealand were last at the Beijing Olympics four years ago and have never previously finished higher than sixth in an Olympic tournament though their men's team were surprise winners the first time the tournament was played on artificial turf in 1976. Mark Hager, New Zealand's Australian coach who has played a big part in their move up the world rankings to No. 7, said: "It's huge. I don't think anyone expected us to. We were always possibly a threat and when we started the tournament well, we got on a bit of a roll." Germany had a lot more of the game but were continually denied by the New Zealand defence and goalkeeper Bianca Russell in particular. This was the 34-year-old goalkeeper's first Olympics. South Africa won their final Pool B game against the United States 7-0 to switch places with the Americans at the bottom of the table. It was their biggest win over USA for 18 years. Pietie Coetzee and Tarryn Bright each picked up a brace.