Argentina lead women's Champions Trophy

SYDNEY (AFP) - Tight matches on day two of the women's Champions Trophy field hockey tournament Sunday saw Argentina beat Australia 1-0 and the Netherlands overcome China 1-0, while Germany eased past England 3-1. Argentina advanced to the head of the leader board on six points, with the Netherlands on four, Australia and Germany on three, England on one and China with no points.Argentina had a penalty corner disallowed in the last minute of the first half then scored as Australia's defence went to sleep, conceding a free hit to Luciana Aymar who slipped a pass to Josefina Sruoga in the circle who scored inside the left post.Madonna Blyth, the captain of the Australians, who wore pink to support breast cancer awareness, conceded the team was not focused after a goal was disallowed after many reviews by the video umpire. "We probably did not switch back on as a whole group after the goal was disallowed," Blyth said."I am a big fan of Australian hockey and a big fan of the way they play," Argentina coach Carlos Retegui said. "Today the whole squad defended well and our goalkeeper had a really great game," Retegui said.China held world and Olympic champions the Netherlands scoreless for 60 minutes.But Marilyn Agliotti collected a rebound off China's goalkeeper from Maartje Paumen's sixth penalty corner attempt to give the Netherlands their first win of the tournament."We dominated the game as we did yesterday and the win was deserved," said Janneke Schopman, captain of the Netherlands. "We played physically strong but safe in the first half and we talked about it in the break and told the team they needed to play also to play to win and they did that in the second half," said Herman Kruis, the team's coach. England's Chloe Rogers backstick slap into the left of goal on England's first penalty corner in the first minute of the match shocked Germany into action. Germany came back through Natascha Keller, finding gaps in England's defence from long midfield passes to trouble England's defence. Germany's first goal came from Lydia Haase and Eileen Hoffman combining to set up Janine Beerman for an easy shot into the right of goal. Fanny Rinne added the second for Germany on her fifth penalty corner attempt, beating two defenders to hit low into the left of goal from near the penalty spot, early in the second half. Natascha Keller set up Germany's third, beating England defenders along the left baseline, tapping across to Maike Stoeckel in front of goal to push inside the right post.

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