June 2011

Vital win: Crista Cullen and Jana Teschke have a joust as England defeat Germany 1-0 (c) Andy SmithEngland hung on for a 1-0 win over Germany in the Rabo FIH Champions Trophy, a victory that slightly eased the prospect of relegation to the Champions Challenge.

With the International Hockey Federation executive committee meeting today, the format and relegation/promotion here for the 2012 Trophy and Challenge is still not clear. England coach Danny Kerry has said that the 2012 Trophy is important to Great Britain's Olympiic preparations. Fifth place here in Amsterdam is the only safe option at the moment, making the win over Germany vital.

Captain fantastic: Barry Middleton celebrates his late equaliser for EnglandEngland drew their Rabo 4-Nations cup opener with Pakistan in an enjoyable game that lit up with three goals in the last six minutes.

Pakistan took the lead in the Wagener Stadium when the old stager himself Sohail Abbas showed he still has his prolific drag-flick touch. The 34-year-old buried Pakistan's only corner of the match hard to Nick Brothers left in the England goal. That came after eight minutes and was practically all the action the Reading keeper saw of the ball until the dying minutes.

England's equaliser came with six minutes to go when Richard Smith took advantage of a quick free hit (following Abbass's yellow card for an awful swipe at a charging Richard Alexander) to finish with a reverse strike.

Sam Quek lets fly for England against ChinaEngland will now contest the fith to eighth place pool at the 2011 Champions Trophy after their scoreless game against China and Korea's 1-1 draw with world champions Argentina.

The draw left England hoping Argentina would beat Korea by two clear goals to nudge the defending bronze-medallists into the medal pool. But it was not to be as Korea turned in an excellent performance.

Two goals from Leicester's Rebecca Herbert earned England a 2-2 draw with Korea at the 2011 Champions Trophy in Amsterdam. Herbert also had a chance to win the match in the last minute but drew a brilliant save out of Moon Young Hui.