PARIS: Germany stunned the Netherlands 1-0 in the men's hockey at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday to secure a spot in the quarter-finals as the Australian, Argentine, Belgian and Dutch women's teams also progressed to the knockout stage.
Niklas Wellen, the Germany skipper, found a sliver of space in the third minute for the only score of a tight Pool A game in which attritional defences limited shots on net on a humid afternoon at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium.
"The weather is very tough, the toughest condition I ever played with," Germany goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg said: "Normally, my whole equipment weighs about six kilos and after a game like this I have 20 kilos on my body from the water, from the sweat, from everything."
Players voices echoed in the silence of the final evening games as the normally boisterous spectators were kept out of the open air seating because of forecast storms that never materialised.
In the women's draw, Belgium beat Japan 3-0 in a Pool A clash to give them three wins out of three and a place in the quarter-finals for the first time after failing to get past the opening stage on their Olympic debut in London in 2012.
The Dutch women later showed why they are favourites to retain the title they won in Tokyo three years ago when they beat China 3-0 to reach the knockout stage for the seventh straight Olympics.
Argentina joined them from Pool B after holding on to beat Spain 2-1 despite having to defend with two players down for several minutes in the fourth quarter, while Australia also progressed with a 3-0 win over the United States.
In Wednesday's other Pool B game, goals from Amy Costello and Hannah French gave Britain a 2-1 win over South Africa, their first victory of the tournament keeping alive their hopes of progressing.
Nike Lorenz scored a hat-trick as Germany bounced back from a defeat to the Netherlands with a 5-1 thrashing of hosts France to move three points clear in third place in Pool A.
The top four in each group qualifies for the quarter-finals.
Belgium and India reached the quarter-finals from men's Pool B on Tuesday.
Spain remain firmly in the hunt for a knockout berth from Pool A after beating South Africa 3-0 to pull level with the Netherlands on seven points going into their clash in the final pool game on Friday. --REUTERS