Hockey: England fall to another heavy defeat

England's baptism of fire in the elite Champions Trophy in Macau continued yesterday when they went down 4-0 to the defending champions Argentina.

The fast and skilful Argentinians were the first to attack and soon took the lead through Vanina Oneto in the fourth minute, a cracking reverse stick shot beating Katy Roberts.

Although England's performance was greatly improved on Sunday's 5-0 thrashing by New Zealand, they were outplayed for most of the first half and it was only a fine goalkeeping performance from Roberts that restricted the deficit at the interval.

Two goals inside the opening six minutes of the second half effectively put the game beyond England's reach. Luciana Aymar scored the first of her two goals in the 38th minute with Cecilia Rognoni converting a penalty corner three minutes later. Aymar's second came three minutes from the end.

England's second-half performance was at times impressive, creating a number of chances including five penalty corners. But, as in their previous games, their finishing was woeful.

The Argentinians look likely to be defending their title in the final on Sunday, probably against China or Australia. The world and Olympic champions Australia kept their hopes alive with a 3-1 win over New Zealand while the host nation drew 1-1 with the Netherlands. England face Australia today.