Germany beat Japan to qualify for semi-finals

By Sanjay Rajan

BEIJING (Reuters) - Champions Germany qualified for the semi-finals in women's Olympic hockey on Monday with a 1-0 victory over Japan to top Pool B with 12 points.

The third-ranked Germans became the second team to book a last four berth after the top-ranked Netherlands, silver medalists four years ago, sealed a spot from Pool A on Saturday with a game to spare.

Three-times champions Australia will take on Asian Games champions China in their final group match on Monday with the winner taking the other semi-final spot from pool A.

Argentina (eight points) can not afford anything short of a victory against New Zealand later on Monday to book their berth as the second team from Pool B with Britain, who play the United States, just a point behind.

Germany had to beat Japan to assure themselves of a berth after being thrashed 4-0 by Argentina in the previous round.

Janine Beermann scored the only goal of the match for Germany five minutes into the second half.

"It was close," Germany captain Marion Rodewald said of the tussle. "We expected that it will take a long time to score a goal, which we finally made in the second half."

The fast Japanese, who finished eighth at Athens, were out of semi-final contention, though were looking for a higher placing in the classification rounds.

"In the end we were fighting to win the game and for it to not end in a draw," Rodewald said.

"Japan came on a little bit more into the match and it was a hard fight at the finish."

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)