Hockey: Olympic hopes teeter in complex round of play-offs

By TERRY MADDAFORD

New Zealand's hopes of playing in the Olympic men's hockey tournament hang in the balance after last night's 5-2 loss to tournament favourites Korea.

The loss left New Zealand on four points, facing a virtual must-win clash with Poland today.

In a best-case scenario, New Zealand could still finish second in their group and win a Sydney 2000 place. A loss to Poland, who go into the game on six points, could end their Olympic dream, depending on the results of Belgium's last two games.

"It is very complicated," said New Zealand coach Robin Wilson, as he watched Belgium play their penultimate game against Britain in Osaka late last night.

"If Belgium can beat Britain and Japan, and we beat Poland, we could finish second. In the next-best case scenario, we would like to finish third and then play Switzerland in the crossovers."

The winners of those two games - between the third and fourth-placed teams in each pool - would go to the Olympics.

"Every team in our pool still has a chance."

Against Korea, New Zealand began well and held them to 2-0 at halftime. A Craig Reynolds goal early in the second spell got New Zealand to 2-1 but the Koreans responded within a minute and added a fourth to kill off Kiwi hopes.

"We had a poor period in the second spell when we turned the ball over and had a few defensive problems," said Wilson.

While there were no standout players in the New Zealand team, Wilson said Brett Leaver had a good first half while Simon Towns and Greg Russ showed out at times.

In another disciplined display, New Zealand got through without any cautions and, more importantly, no further injury worries. Only Craig Russ has been missing but Wilson hopes he might be fit for consideration today.

Tomorrow is a rest day with the play-offs scheduled for Saturday.