They will face Argentina in Friday's last four after the South Ameircans fell 3-0 to a resurgent Australia in their final pool B match.

The Aussies will next play Spain, who earned their first ever semifinal spot after a stunning goal from Monserrat Cruz gave the hosts a 1-1 draw with England.

Australia scored early through Wendy Beattie who quickly added a second when she deflected home an Anglie Skirving corner flick around the defence.

Argentina had no conversions from 10 corners and Coach Gabriel Minadeo will be concerned that his set play combination is not working.

Sarah Taylor then put the game beyond the South Americans with a goal from a corner rebound.

Australia coach Frank Murray is feeling confident about his side's chances of lifting the trophy.

"You don't beat a team like Argentina 3-0 everyday so our form is good. The match on Friday against Spain will be tough, congested and we are ready."

Dutch coach Marc Lammers was also in an understandably buoyant mood about his team after they secured top spot in Pool A.

"The mood is very good in our team and all our players are fit except for a bruise here or there," said Lammers.

The match between the Dutch, who finished on 13 points to top pool A from Spain, and the Germans was keenly contested.

Neither side gave an inch, and the game featured some skilful, end-to-end play that saw German goalkeeper Yvonne Frank called into action to produce some excellent saves in the first half.

Germany ended fourth in Pool A on seven points, and are destined for the 5-8 play-offs on Friday.

England needed to beat Spain to make it into the last four but Cruz's goal put paid to that.

She ran wide to the right, sneaked around two defenders and hammered the ball in from a wide angle.

A draw suited Spain but they still came out firing and attacked England when everyone expected them to defend.

England's prospects looked a little bleak and their bad luck with injuries continued when Jennie Bimson joined her Captain Kate Walsh on the sidelines, both with an injured knee.

That meant that Beth Storey had to take off her goalkeeper kit and play left striker.

The match came alive with five minutes to go when England's Mel Clewlow fired home a penalty corner to level the scores.

Immediately England forced another corner however the initial push failed under pressure and Spain were off the hook.

England Coach Danny Kerry said, "We are very disappointed although we have exceeded expectation. You do not get a chance to play in a World Cup semi final very often."

England now move to the 5-8 playoff on Friday and will meet Japan, who outclassed South Africa to seal an emphatic 3-0 win in Pool B, while Spain will play either Argentina or Australia in the semis.

Japan opened brightly with Tomomi Komori scoring in the third minute and Keiko Miura scored from a corner in the ninth minute to bury a South Africa side unable to change their game plan.

Komori made the game safe just on the stroke of half-time with another corner goal.

USA play Germany after taking third place in Pool B, behind Australia and Argentina, after defeating South Korea 1-0.

China won a bottom-of-the-table Pool A clash with India 1-0 thanks to a 25th minute goal by Fu Bao Rong from a narrow angle.