KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - In three hours, the New Zealand men's hockey team plunged from a position of power to one of weakness in their chase for an Olympic Games semifinal.
Sitting second on the table in Pool B, New Zealand drew 2-2 with bottom side China, then had further
bad news when world champions Germany beat pool leaders Spain 1-0 to leap to second.
So instead of soaring up the table with a win over China as they planned, New Zealand slumped to fourth, and must beat Germany tomorrow to get a shot at a medal.
With one pool match left, Spain lead on nine points, with Germany second on eight, and Korea and New Zealand on seven. Only the top two reach the semifinals.
Korea rank above New Zealand, as while they have the same goal difference, the Koreans have scored more goals. Korea play Spain in the final round.
Coach Shane McLeod lamented the lack of finishing against China, saying on balance it was a game that should have been won.
"We thought this was a good opportunity, the guys mentally were ready for the game," he said.
"It was a big crowd, a very vocal crowd and things fell really nicely for the Chinese - two corners, two goals and then it was a game of catchup the whole way."
In some ways playing Germany would be more straightforward, he said.
"They're very well organised but sometimes it's quite easy to read their structure because of that organisation," he said.
"It's actually a nice challenge to play against a side like that because there's a lot of repeatability in their game, and some areas we can look to take advantage of.
"Their personal skill is of a high standard so that's going to be one of the important match ups to win, keep our personal skill level pretty high."
Germany watched New Zealand fumble their way around against China, but McLeod felt they would not have learned much as the Blacks Sticks played a hectic style after going 0-2 down early.
A defensive blunder in the second minute opened a path for China into the New Zealand circle, and Chinese captain Yi Song smashed home the resultant penalty corner.
New Zealand had a penalty corner of their own in the 12th minute, only to see Chinese goalkeeper Rifeng Su parry away a low Hayden Shaw shot.
Su celebrated as if he had made the vital save in a penalty shoot out, much to the delight of the parochial crowd.
China went 2-0 up in the 17th minute, with Song slotting a second penalty corner after yet another howler on defence.
From then on it was New Zealand versus goalkeeper Su, who impersonated the Great Wall of China.
Once with the help of a goalpost, once with the help of the video referee, Su held the fort secure until Child found space in front of goal to pounce in the 32nd minute.
Running China all over the park, New Zealand could not get the ball into the net until 20 minutes into the second half.
Shea McAleese rifled in an attempted clearance by the Chinese defence, after a tormenting run by Gareth Brooks.
With 15 minutes to make their Olympic future more secure, the Black Sticks mounted waves of attack. All were thwarted.
When the final whistle blew New Zealand had fired 13 shots at the Chinese goal, with only four shots back by the men in red.
- NZPA
