Author: Rachael Lynch

World Cup Rosario 2010

The Hockeyroos have arrived in Rosario and after a very long few days of travel we all can’t wait to get into the hockey. Our hotel is great and we have been for a bit of a walk around to suss out the area. This afternoon we have training and then tomorrow is our first game which is the ‘Audi Cup’ against Argentina. It is a one off game as a bit of a warm up before the World Cup. Ill be putting regular posts on here once the tournament starts so keep an eye out.

Series Win

Hi everyone. This afternoon, in a milestone game for Nic Arrold (200th), we drew our final match with Germany which meant we won the series. It was a tough and very hot game in the beautiful european sun. We went into half time drawn at 0-0 after dominating the attack. I only had one save in the whole half. With about 10 or so minutes to go the Germans were awarded a terrible corner which they scored from. We knew we had to at least draw to take the series so we pushed and pushed for a goal. Some how, with about 3 seconds to go we managed to knock one in the net. The siren had gone before we even had time to celebrate. Everyone is feeling exhausted after a hockey filled 3 days so we are looking forward to a day off tomorrow as we travel to Dublin.

Tonight we did head out for dinner and after watching the Germans beat England in the world cup it was absolute carnage in the streets. Every car was tooting their horn, people were hanging out the windows yelling and cheering. Streets were blocked off as people were just drinking and singing. I have never seen anything like it. Talk about bringing a country together. The game finished 3 hours ago and we can still hear the partying from our room. Amazing! We all couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if the hockey world cup caused such excitement.

Im not sure if we will have internet access at our hotel in Ireland so this may be my last report. I hope everyone is surviving the cold winter back home. Im off to apply some moisturiser to my sun burn 😛

Rach

4 Nations Update

After two days we are leading in the four nations tournament in Germany. Yesterday we beat Ireland 4-0 in quite a good match. Nic Arrold scored 3 goals which was a very good effort, with two of them being drag flicks straight over the top of the short Indian Keeper. Today we had another hat-trick in our 6-2 win against India. Megan Rivers scored 4 goals so Im not sure if its still called a hat trick or if she gets another name for such an achievement. It was very much an end to end game but we did well to score 6 goals past the indians tight defence. I only had a few saves to make but was beaten by a PC shot and a quick shot in the second half. The weather is still hard to believe. In the first game, at 7pm, I had trouble as I was looking into the sun, then today the girls we all getting some nice body suit tan lines from our afternoon game.

The tournament is set up really well with shops, a bar, activities and a dj. We have been spoilt with some beautful food at the ground, although somehow we manage to miss out on the big bratwurst sausages that the coaching staff demolish while we are warming down. I would have thought its on natural that we too would want to embrace that part of the german culture.

Last game tomorrow against Germany then we fly out to Ireland. Our game tomorrow is just before the England v Germany game at the world cup so we wont be surprised if no one comes to the game. Hopefully we can go and watch the last half in a pub someone.

Rach

Game 1 v Germany

Guten Morgen!

It is very quiet in our section of the hotel this morning as all the girls wake after a late night of watching the the post game video. Yesterday we played our first game against Germany here in Essen and it certainly wasn’t pretty. A very important game for the Germans as one of their players Natasha Keller was playing her 350th game for Germany. An amazing achievement and certainly a big motivator for their team to do well. We started very well scoring in the first 5 minutes of the game. We then managed another goal about 20 minutes in….But…things went downhill from there. The Germans scored 3 goals in 10 minutes and another just before half time so we went into the half 4-2 down. Not the best start given we had 3 players making their debut, including our goalie, Kate Hubble. Our second half was a tough one for the girls and they all came away feeling quite exhausted. The final score line was 6-2. We came home and watched the game in groups with the defenders going first. We finished up at 10.20 pm  then the attackers started their meeting after that. My roomie came home about midnight.

We play Germany again today so hopefully we can turn things around and come away with a more positive performance. No one likes losing like that. I think Ill be watching from the side again but the tournament starts in a few days so will hopefully get to play then. India have arrived and Ireland should be coming soon so we can get into the main event.

No other news for now but hopefully I will be sending through some good news next time.

Take care

Rach

 

4 Nations Tournament Germany

The Hockeyroos have been travelling Europe for the past week in a warm up series before the 4 Nations. Today the 4 Nations tournament begins for us in Essen Germany. We play 3 games in 3 days starting with Ireland tonight at 7pm. The group has had some exciting adventures since arriving in England over a week ago including a contiki style bus ride through 5 countries in 36 hours from Bisham to Germany. We are all very excited to work towards winning this tournament and the job starts tonight. Until next time. Rach

One Day to Go!

With one day to go at the World Cup Qualifier event in Chile the Hockeyroos have the world cup in sight. We have won 3 from 3 games now after beating Chile 3-0, Malaysia 9-0 then a close 2-1 win over Scotland yesterday. I have been fortunate enough to have played both the Malaysia and Scotland game and really enjoyed being apart of it all. Tomorrow is our final game against Ireland which if we win or draw will secure us a spot at the World Cup in Argentina. The weather has been beautiful for our last few days and hopefully tomorrow will be the same. Today, being a Saturday, there were heaps of people at the ground. Im sure tomorrows games will attract similar if not more supporters so we are all looking forward to a bit of atmosphere and excitement.

The girls are all doing a bit of last minute shopping before we head home but of course there is one more bit of business we must take care of and thats smashing the Irish tomorrow.

By for now

Rach Lynch

We are one step closer…

Good morning/night whatever it is there now
We are one step closer to making it to the world cup. This afternoon we beat Chile 5-0 in our first game of the tournament. It was a pretty good game and a consistent performance from us. No PC’s against and Cronky only got 2 touches. We created plenty of scoring chances so Frank was quite happy. There were about 4,000 people at the game (apparently) but its funny how quiet a stadium can get when we score a goal. I was in the crowd cheering with the other two girls so thats all that matters.
The schedule keeps changing by the day but we now have till Thursday until we play our next game against Malaysia. 3 games to go ( and win ) then it will be job done. We are all really enjoying the sites and sounds that Chile has to offer. The view of the Andes mountains out our window is a nice site to wake up to. Can’t complain.
Speak soon
Rach

The Hockeyroos have arrived in Chile


The Hockeyroos have arrived in Chile and last night we played an international test match against Chile which we won 4-0. A match purely for practice in the lead up to our World Cup Qualifier event but nevertheless a great start for us. The field is located at the foot of the andies mountains which is a nice incentive to turn up to training. We have had a bit of a look around chile and experienced some of the culture but the focus is on the tournament and preparing as best as we can in order to get the job done and win. The spanish lessons have been a huge help as Ive been able to mix with the locals and interact in a common language. We hope to start the tournament on Sunday but due to the problems in Europe both Scotland and Ireland still have not arrived. I will keep you all updated. Bye for now.

Champions Trophy

So close! The 2009 Samsung Champions trophy is over and we are going home with silver. In the most intense game of the tournament the Hockeyroos went down to Argentina in strokes after staying at 0-0 after full time then extra time. It was a battle of the midfields with neither team having many good scoring opportunities. Luciana Aymar who sealed the deal for the Argies by scoring the final stroke. It was tough watching them sing and dance around but we all left feeling very proud of our performance. It was another step forward for us and so we will know head back home to train for the World Cup qualifiers in NZ in August.

Here is a team snap shot.

team pic

Cheers,

Rach