Title-holders Argentina were able to defend their Gold medal. In a very close final they defeated host Australia 4:3 in a penalty stroke competition in front of their home crowd. The Netherlands won the Bronze Medal after a 5:2-victory over Germany. China smashed England 7:0 and the match for the 5th place to stay in the Champions Trophy.

Host Australia is relegated to the Champions Challenge although they turned second in Sydney’s Champions Trophy. The only chance the Hockeyroos had was to win the Champions Trophy because the Champions Trophy Winners are as well qualified as the Olympic Champion, the World Champion and the host. The other countries shall be in order of those finishing in second and subsequent places in the previous Olympic Games.

After this Champions Trophy Argentine team-captain Luciana Aymar is the player with the most Champions Trophy matches to her name and Dutch Minke Smeets (Smabers before marriage) is the most decorated player with ten medals in total. Chinese team-captain Ma Yibo is the most successful penalty goal scorer in Champions Trophy history.  

Awards at the final ceremony:

Player of the tournament –
Madonna BLYTH (AUS)

Goalkeeper –
Belen SUCCI (ARG)

Top Scorer –
Maartje PAUMEN (NED) with 5 goals

Fair Play Trophy –
AUSTRALIA

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.”

Netherlands v Germany 5:2 (5:2)

The Netherlands win the Bronze Medal after a 5:2 (5:2)-victory against Germany. Dutch Minke Smeets (Smabers before marriage) won her tenth Champions Trophy medal making her the most decorated player in the competition’s history.

The Bronze Medal match was a clash between the two European top nations. The encounter did not just sound promising the crowd saw a big battle between the Netherlands and Germany.

The Dutch got the better start into game and were 4:0 in front after only 25 minutes. After Ellen Hoog took the lead, Maartje Paumen increased it through a penalty stroke goal. When Germany just seemed to have found their way back into the game Marilyn Agliotti scored twice within four minutes. The fourth goal against was the finally wake-up call for Germany who answered with the 4:1 through Eileen Hoffmann. Now the Dutch felt that the Germans are one the way back into the game and put them more under pressure again. It was a really intensive match on a high level during this time. The Dutch converted another penalty corner through Maartje Paumen who turned new top scorer with five goals. Germany scored once more from open play.

With seven goals scored in 35 minutes the bronze medal match had the biggest half time score in this tournament. “The first half was full of unforced errors. In the second half, we were much more satisfied with our performance. We cut down our errors. The German team has come a long way from our first match to today', said the German defender Tina Bachmann.

After the game Germany against the Netherlands finished with a 1:0-victory for the Dutch in the round-robin this match was a real improvement of both teams.

The second half seemed a bit like both teams did not have the power anymore to keep up the pace shown in the first 35 minutes. Dutch goal scorer Ellen Hoog agreed: “Our first half performance was much better than the second. We played more as a team. In the second half the team got tired.”
Germany tried to score but were too unlucky, they were not able to score from four penalty corners awarded in row.

Goal scorers
1:0 9’ Ellen HOOG (FG)
2:0 14’ Maartje PAUMEN (PS)
3:0 21’ Marilyn AGLIOTTI (FG)
4:0 25’ Marilyn AGLIOTTI (FG)
4:1 27’ Eileen HOFFMANN (FG)
5:1 29’ Maartje PAUMEN (PC)
5:2 34’ Natascha KELLER (FG)

China v England 7:0 (3:0)

China smashed England 7:0 (3:0) in the match for the 5th place and will participate at 2010’s Champions Trophy in Nottingham.

The Chinese let no doubt that they wanted to win the match for the 5th place. They knew that a defeat would mean relegation to the Champions Challenge what would have been a bad result for the Olympic Silver Medal Winners. England is already qualified for 2010’s Champions Trophy in Nottingham because they host the tournament.

China started with high pace into the game and took the lead already in the second minute. After the game got a bit quiet China made two more goals before the halftime whistle. “It was awesome, I’m happy to score two goals', said Ren Ye.
The 3:0 was the biggest halftime score in this tournament.
Back on the pitch China played even more aggressive and made the 4:0 immediately after the second half has started. Now they slowed down the pace again until Fu Barong scored twice in the 52nd and 53rd minute. With four goals she actually shares the first place of the top scorer ranking with Argentine Noel Barrionuevo.

China was 6:0 in front but still wanted more what they got. Qian Xing scored the 7:0 twelve minutes before the final whistle. At the beginning of the game China had still to worry about the relegation and now they started to chase the biggest win in Champions Trophy history, an 8:0 of Australia over New Zealand 1987.
Finally they did not get the record but they achieved their biggest win in their Champions Trophy history.

Today's 7:0-victory was established by field goals only.
“We need to learn to cross better, fix our mis-traps and we need to get fitter', said England's Nicola White after the game.

Goal scorers
1:0 3’ LI Hongxia (FG)
2:0 27’ REN Ye (FG)
3:0 31’ REN Ye (FG)
4:0 37’ SONG Qingling (FG)
5:0 52’ FU Baorong (FG)
6:0 53’ FU Baorong (FG)
7:0 58’ QIAN Xing (FG)