GB women prepare for semi-final against New Zealand

Lily Owsley GB v USAGreat Britain women will play in the Olympic semi-finals tonight against New Zealand in what is a repeat of the bronze medal match at London 2012.

Danny Kerry’s side have built momentum as the tournament has gone on; putting behind them the disappointment of a seemingly below par Hockey Champions Trophy just weeks ahead of Rio. From the outside looking in, fifth out of six did not bode well for the greatest show on earth in Brazil. In truth, Kerry was never worried:

“I’ve been doing this job for 11 years and you don’t want to win Champions Trophies before Olympic Games. You want to identify little areas. We also had four players coming back from injury and they were very ring rusty.  We’ve changed that and worked hard on that. And it just creates that bit of impetus.” he adds “If you do well at a Champions Trophy you don’t perhaps work as you should. We worked hard, we had a good training block and it’s paying dividends.”

Having swept aside Spain in the quarter finals, Great Britain’s path to the gold medal match is blocked by New Zealand. The Blacksticks are on a real high after dumping their Oceania rivals Australia out in the last round. Kerry is all too aware of their strengths:

“New Zealand are a very fast side. They’ve got a lot of pace and a lot of good goalscorers and it will be a hell of a game.”

Great Britain’s record in the Olympics against the Kiwis is played 3 won 3, including of course that memorable bronze medal victory in London. There is no doubt, however that this one will be a very close battle with nothing taken for granted on either side.

Tune in at 9pm on BBC Sport to watch Great Britain women take on New Zealand for a place in the Olympic Final.

 

 

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