Rio 2016: Single-minded hockey stars focus on Kiwis

Britain claimed an Olympic bronze medal in London four years ago when they beat New Zealand 3-1.

This time around, though, the prize is infinitely greater – a place in the Olympic final against Holland or Germany.

Britain have moved impressively though the tournament, winning all five of their pool games before knocking out quarter-final opponents Spain.

Anything better than bronze would result in the British women’s best Olympic performance – they also finished third at Barcelona 24 years ago – but Richardson-Walsh is playing a cautious long-game.

“We don’t expect – we believe. And we just go back to square one,” she said.

“We start the game believing that we can win, but we just must do our job for the team.

“Everybody must do their role. We must deliver on the tactics that our coach has set out for us and, if we do that, we think the score will take care of itself.”

If the competition is all about momentum, then Britain possess it in abundance, having displayed an impressive mixture of clinical finishing and superbly-organised defence to so far brush aside all opponents.

“It reminds me of the Olympic qualifiers in Valencia,” added Richardson-Walsh.

“We built momentum game by game, and we were unbeaten throughout that tournament. This feels the same as that.

“On Wednesday, we can’t go in with psychological emotion in the game.

“You must stay in the moment, and not think about what can be.”