New Zealand finished their matches in the group campaign on a high note, sweeping to their third successive win with a hard fought 4-1 victory over South Africa. However, the Kiwis's dominance wasn't nearly as emphatic as the scoreline suggests.
Turning round at 1-1 , two accurate, powerful low flicks by New Zealand's penalty corner ace Hayden Shaw gave his team a 3-1 advantage before Philip Burrows cracked in from an acute angle in the final minute to seal the win.
New Zealand now face a tough encounter against either Germany or Korea in the 5-8th play offs, with the Proteas likely to come up against their continental rivals, Egypt.
Spain secured their place in the semi finals and moved top of Pool A when they scored two late goals to see of Egypt 3-0. The expected goal flurry failed to materialise as Egypt played some of their best hockey of the tournament to restrict the European championship silver medallists to a solitary goal lead at the break.
On the back foot for much of the second half, the Africa Champions put up spirited resistance before conceding goals in the 62nd and 65th minutes as Spain pushed forward relentlessly.
The Spaniards must now wait for the outcome of tonight's key contest between Germany and Korea to determine the second nation in the last four and where they will finish in the final group standings.
Kevin Towns (New Zealand coach)
"The scoreline didn't reflect how much pressure we were under but we played well in the first fifteen minutes of each half. Now we want to try and finish fifth - we face Germany or Korea in our next game. It doesn't matter how much you do back home playing in these temperatures is something else."
On Simon Towns's knee injury: "He's had a few knocks on it and took a couple in this game but it's only bruising not serious damage."
On Hayden Shaw's decision to quit hockey and take up professional cricket: "He's always been very honest with us and we won't bother him about it. But he will be a big loss and I think he may be back!"
Paul Revington (South Africa coach)
"Hayden Shaw produced at the right moment today. Their goalkeeper Paul Woodford made some outstanding saves especially a couple of rebounds at penalty corners. Now we have tto try and come 9th and we are in control of that - we have to do the best we can as there are a lot of expectations back home."
Pol Amat (Spain forward)
"Personally I have no preference whether we play Australia or Holland but what is certain is that in Olympic finals and semi final corners can be the determining factor and the Dutch are very strong there."
Maurits Hendriks (Spain coach)
"We're going to forget that game! We did what we had to do. Spain is at it's best and can beat anyone in the world and I'm convinced of that."
