Beijing: Defending champions Germany joined the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the Olympic women's field hockey with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Japan on Monday.
Janine Beermann scored the winner five minutes into the second half when she deflected a free hit from Maike Stoeckel over the head of Japanese goalkeeper Ikuko Okamura into the goal.
Germany, who beat the Dutch in the Athens Games final four years ago, finished their pool B engagements with four wins from five matches.
The other semi-finalist from the pool will be decided later on Monday with Argentina and Britain, a point separating them, needing wins in their last league matches to advance.
Argentina, who won the Champions Trophy ahead of the Games, take on winless New Zealand, while Britain clash with the fast-improving United States.
"Reaching the semi-finals was our first goal and now that we have made it, we await the crucial matches with a lot of confidence," said German goal-scorer Beermann.
"We may have scored only one goal today but we played well. There is a lot of passion going into the semi-finals. We want to repeat what we did four years ago."
Japan, the Asian Games finalists, finished fifth in the six-team pool with one win, a draw and three losses.
"We were weak in controlling the ball compared to the best teams," said Japanese striker Kaori Chiba. "I think we need to train abroad with the best to improve."
Meanwhile, in pool A, Australia were preparing for a must-win game against hosts China later on Monday to join the Dutch in the semi-finals.
China, who are locked on nine points with the Hockeyroos but enjoy a superior goal difference, will advance with a draw.
"This is crunch time," said Australian coach Frank Murray, whose team finished fifth at Athens after winning the previous two competitions in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.
"It will be a big ask for us. They have a home crowd. They are a very fit side. They have a fast midfield, are well disciplined and have a couple of the best strikers around. We will give it a good shot. This is how we thought it would happen -- playing against China in the last game to decide our fate."
The Dutch, who lead the pool with 12 points, play Spain in their last match.
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