Ireland will meet Spain while Belgium face Korea on Friday for men’s Olympic qualification following a dramatic day in Valencia.
Luke Madeley was the Green Machine hero as his first half corner – on the switch-left – earned a nervy 1-0 win over Japan to see them finish in second place in their group.
After a first half low on chances, Japan had a number of corner opportunities in the second half but they could not find a way to fully stretch David Harte.
It meant they joined Belgium in advancing from Pool A after the Red Lions eased by the challenge of Ukraine 12-0 with Tom Boon scoring a hat trick.
They will now face Korea who left it late to break Austrian hearts in Pool A. The Red Capricorns fell 2-0 behind before fighting back brilliantly with goals from Christoph Soldat and Maximilan Scholz from a corner.
That had Austria at 2-2, a result which would have seen them through to the semi-finals, but Korea snagged two goals on the counter-attack to make it 4-2 and edge them out of the competition.
Spain were the first winners of the day with a comprehensive 8-1 victory against Egypt with Alvaro Iglesias and Marc Miralles both doubling up with a pair of goals each.
Thursday’s schedule will see four Olympic tickets confirmed on the women’s side. In Valencia, the women from Spain and Ireland meet at 12.30pm (CET) and Belgium face Great Britain at 3.30pm (CET) with the winners going to Paris with the losers getting one last chance on Saturday.
In Ranchi, USA are up against Japan at 12pm (CET) and Germany take on hosts India at 3pm (CET).
The group stages in Oman also come to a conclusion with the semi-final line-up set to be confirmed.
- Get streaming and telecast details at the following links
Watch FIH Paris Olympic Qualifier India live
Watch FIH Paris Olympic Qualifier Spain live
Watch FIH Paris Olympic Qualifier Oman live
- Go to the official event website: www.olympics.hockey
