Argentina v Australia 4:3 PSC (0:0, 0:0)

After 85 goalless minutes the Winners got establish in a penalty stroke competition. It was Argentina’s star and team-captain Luciana Aymar who converted the last penalty stroke and brought her team the win of Sydney’s Champions Trophy. “Really, I was nervous. It was a situation where anyone would get nervous", Aymar said. “Walking to the ball, I thought back in 2002 [when she missed a penalty stroke]. But I quickly put it out of my mind and did what I had to do. I have to forget and be confident.”

The host Australia is relegated to the Champions Challenge due to their result at the Beijing Olympics. England cannot be relegated because they host the next Champions Trophy, so the decision is made in relation to the ranking at the Beijing Olympics.

The final was a classic one. Both teams were waiting for the other team to make a mistake. Moreover Australia knew they also need the victory to stay in the Champions Trophy. The score of the Gold Medal match were equal over 70 minutes and the match went into extra time. This was already the 8th out of 18 matches to go goalless into halftime.

Both teams started very nervous and made a lot simple mistakes which lead to some chances at the beginning. Argentina missed two penalty corners in the first five minutes and the Hockeyroos hit the post. From the 15th minute on both teams played very concentrated and tried to avoid any mistakes which worked well.
Nothing has changed in the second half except for the crowd that pushed Australia forward. Finally both teams had not many chances out of open play but at least they won penalty corners. Due to good performances of both goalkeepers the score stayed equal over 70 minutes.

In the last ten minutes of the game it got more hectic, both teams knew that a mistake could decide the game at this stage. Australia had more possession and were attacking while Argentina defended well-organised and waited for the counter-attack. The Hockeyroos got obviously tired but never stopped fighting in front of their home crowd. After 85 minutes of high-speed hockey the matter was solved in a penalty stroke competition. Australian team-captain Madonna Blyth was disappointed: “We’re initially disappointed to lose on penalty strokes but I think the girls have done really well this week.”