Germany Has Last Laugh Over Kookaburras

The Kookaburras have suffered a heart breaking 4-2 loss to Germany in the semi final, ruining their gold medal dreams.

The Kookaburras will now play off for the bronze medal, the same as what they won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

WAIS athlete Fergus Kavanagh was an ever-present for the Kookaburras throughout the tournament and will now look to add a second bronze to the first he won in Beijing in 2008.

The end result of 4-2 did not reflect the evenness of the match, with the Kookaburras leading twice throughout the game.

As expected it was an extremely even contest, with both teams controlling the match at varying stages.

The Kookaburras started well but after the first ten minutes Germany had steadied, patiently working it into their circle. Equally their defence held up strong, clogging up Australia’s forward half and giving them no room to move.

The Kookaburras defence was equally impressive but looked to be tested when Germany was awarded a penalty corner. The Kookaburras used their referral which was upheld, with the review showing that the contact had been made outside of the circle.

I t mattered little when Germany was awarded another corner, however goalkeeper Nathan Burgers was up to the task and made a solid save.

Using the momentum, the Kookaburras took the ball down the other end, with a Glenn Turner shot being saved and rebounded by Kieran Govers who scored the opening goal of the game.

The Kookaburras had a chance to extend their lead only minutes later when they were awarded their first penalty corner, however the shot by Govers was saved.

Germany proved to be more efficient from their penalty corners, scoring their first goal with nine minutes to go in the half to make it 1-1.

Again the Aussies were given a chance to respond with a second penalty corner, however the shot by Ciriello was again saved.

Germany started the second half well, however it was Australia who regained the lead thanks to a goal to Glenn Turner with 25 minutes to go in the game.

Germany continued to push and made the most of a costly Australia turn over levelling the game with 18 minutes remaining.

With the momentum behind them Germany continued to push and took the lead for the first time in the match with 11 minutes to go from another penalty corner.

They weren’t done with yet and confirmed their victory with a fourth and final goal, booking their place in the gold medal match.

“When you play Germany it is a 50/50 every time. It is disappointing for the players, but we play sport knowing each time you play there is a winner and a loser, so it is a disappointing result. I think both teams had a similar number of chances, they had three corners and scored two goals. We had two corners and score none. There is only a small margin and the goal that brought Germany back into the game came from a soft turn over. If you make those mistakes against Germany you will get hurt,” said Kookaburras coach Ric Charlesworth.