Pool A
New Zealand 0 Argentina 3
Spain 1 Japan 2

Pool B
Korea 2 Australia 2
Germany 0 South Africa 3

The tussle for the second semi final slot behind Holland in Pool B has turned in to a three horse race between the reigning Olympic champions, Australia, Korea and Germany. South Africa's impressive 3-0 win against Germany and an entertaining 2-2 draw between Korea and Australia has thrown up more permutations than Pythagoras would care to contemplate.

Aiming to capture a third successive gold medal the pressure is piling on the Australians who must now play the game of their lives against the European Champions, Holland, in their last group game. If the Australians were guilty of missing several superb chances, Korea's abysmal penalty corner routine also proved costly after they failed to convert from the ten awarded.

Germany also threw away a glorious opportunity to take a step closer to the last four and their inconsistent performances have let them down badly. They squandered seven penalty corners and when they did shoot, South Africa's goalkeeper made some fine saves, and captain Susan Webber dived to make a timely clearance off the line for a late German penalty corner.

In the other group, world champions, Argentina, cruised to a 3-0 victory against New Zealand and moved to the top of the table ahead of China on goal difference. Argentina were rarely troubled by the Black Sticks and although their performance was hardly a classic, they gave the distinct impression that they're saving themselves for key clashes ahead.

The surprise package of the tournament has been Olympic debutantes Japan, who have steadily improved and continued to win over public support with their enthusiasm and ever present smiles. After taking a 2-0 lead against Spain, they were forced to withstand a determined second half fightback by the Spaniards who reduced the deficit three minutes from time. But a combination of sloppy finishing and composed defending saw Japan run out 2-1 winners.

Ian Rutledge (New Zealand coach)
On Lizzy Igasan's cut on her forehead which required five stitches: "Lizzy is fine. She's got a great scar to remind her of the Olympics."
"We had a plan but didn't execute it to the nth degree. After the Games I am looking forward to spending some time with my wife and two year old daughter. Then it's on with the planning for 2008 - we have a real chance there."

Pietie Coetzee (South Africa striker)
"It was a lot of fun - we just needed something to get us rolling. We didn't do a lot differently to what we did in previous games but we stuck to our guns and ran them hard and then kept it up in the second half."

Ros Howell (South Africa coach)
"It was too much too late. We've had to dig really deep but we hung in, the ball bounced our way, the Germans missed some chances and we finally got a result.

On telling the team before the match that she would shave her head if they scored three goals.
"I hope they forget! I'll just have a very short brush cut - I can't go too spikey in this fierce heat!"

Heike Laetzsch (Germany striker)
"It's disappointing especially after the way we played against Australia. The difference was in the circle - we simply didn't get our shots on target. At the moment it's hard but we'll pick ourselves before the match against Korea because we can still qualify. Unfortunately we have to get up at 5am that morning because it's an early start!"

Barbara Malda (Spain defender)
"Everything isn't lost - we now have to wait for results from other teams. Our goal scoring has been the main problem. We controlled a lot of the game and won a lot of penalty corners but just couldn't couldn't put the ball in the back of the net."

Sakae Morimoto (Japan forward)
"We wanted to get three points and didn't mind about the quality of the game. When we came we hoped for a semi final place but we're happy to be playing off for 5-8th place. We've now experienced the difficult and enjoyable side of the Olympics!"

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