Imperious Dutch beat Argentina to reach sixth straight women's hockey final
The Dutch have reached every final since missing out at the 2000 Sydney Games, when they finished with a second consecutive bronze, and have a chance to make history for the country if both women's and men's teams win gold for the hockey powerhouse.
"We have nine girls that have never played in the Olympics. The beauty of Dutch hockey is that we can continue keeping up talent with the new generations," said coach Paul van Ass.
"If the unforced errors are not there, then we usually can be very strong. And then it looks easy. But yeah, Roger Federer also looked always easy when he was good, right?"
Argentina, who were beaten by the Netherlands in the final in Tokyo, now have a chance to win their third bronze.
The Netherlands opened the scoring in the 21st minute when midfielder Fokke slipped behind the defence on a deep pass and dribbled into the circle to beat keeper Cristina Consentino stick-side, lofting the ball into the right corner of the net.
The Dutch scored a second five minutes later when Laura Nunnink redirected a hard cross from Fokke past Consentino's outstretched leg.
"It's nice to just play good hockey and scoring a goal is like an amazing feeling," Fokke said.
"We are expecting a competitive final. We will watch tonight and then prepare our game. It's a final so there's a lot of tension."
The tournament's leading scorer, midfielder Yibbi Jansen, piled on the pressure in the 35th minute with a penalty corner score, her eighth in Paris. Belgium's Ambre Ballenghien is the second-highest scorer with six, all from the field.
China beat Belgium on penalties
In the second semi-final, China beat Belgium 3-2 during a penalty shootout to advance to the final after a 1-1 draw in regulation, as goalkeeper Ye Jiao stopped Delphine-Daphne Marien's final penalty attempt.
China last made it to medal contention in 2008 when they were the hosts and took silver, their sole Olympic medal. They play a powerhouse Netherlands side that is looking to repeat their gold medal from Tokyo in their sixth consecutive Olympic final.
"We did what we had to do. These games you need to win. It doesn't have to be pretty," China's head coach Alyson Annan said.
"We've also practised shootouts every single training for the last year and a half. Every training. We didn't miss a training. That paid off tonight," Annan added.
"You cannot leave anything out on the field. You have to give it your all. They did that. We're in the final."
Belgium, who had never made it to Olympic medal contention, will play Argentina in the bronze medal contest.
Chants of 'lets go Belgium!' persisted throughout the match as fans supported their side's first semi-final appearance until the final whistle.
China midfielder Zou Meirong scored in the 18th minute on a penalty corner rebound that went past the legs of goalkeeper Aisling D'Hooghe and off the stick of outstretched defender Stephanie Vanden Boore before being redirected into the net.
After the early score, China loaded the circle with all their players for most of the game, stifling a strong Belgian offence.
However, Belgian forward Charlotte Englebert equalised in the 59th minute with a driving volley penalty corner rebound, bringing a roar from the crowd.
At the closing whistle, Chinese midfielder Fan Yunxia smacked the ball out of frustration into forward Delphine-Daphne Marien causing her to drop to the turf in pain. Fan received a yellow card for the hit.
"It's a tough one to take. I think we were very close today," Belgian midfielder Judith Vandermeiren said.
"The pride of making it this far will definitely come later. At this point, it's a disappointment to be this close to an Olympic final because that's not something that happens a lot in a lifetime," said Vandermeiren.
"We haven't been to the Olympics for 12 years. If you can play for a medal, you shouldn't hesitate for a second. Even though we wanted to play in the final, we can still get the first medal in the history of Belgium Hockey, so we should go for it."