Kookaburras Advance to World League Semis
Early goals from Kookaburras Jeremy Hayward and Jamie Dwyer in a clinical opening five minutes laid the foundations for a 4-1 win over Germany in the quarter-final of the Hero World League Final in Raipur.
Goalkeeper Andrew Charter’s save from Oskar Deecke’s penalty stroke and Matthew Dawson’s penalty corner goal put the Kookaburras well in command before half time.
Glenn Turner rounded off the goal scoring in the dying seconds as he rolled home into an unguarded net with Germany having withdrawn their goalkeeper and been reduced to ten men through suspension.
Christopher Ruhr had pulled one back for Germany early in the third period but Australia’s men repelled further efforts from the Olympic champions to seal their place in Saturday morning’s (AEDT) semi-final against the Netherlands.
Kookaburras’ head coach Graham Reid said afterwards that the lightning start was very much part of the plan.
“It was part of our strategy to try and make sure everyone started well. It makes such a difference when you can do that,” he said.
“I don’t want to get too carried away though. Germany had as many opportunities as us in the first quarter, we were just able to put ours away.
“I really liked how our young players stood up tonight. It’s been a long tour over here and now is the time we need to be performing well.”
Looking ahead to the semi-final against the Netherlands, Reid highlighted the importance of getting competitive games against the biggest European teams outside of Olympic Games and World Cups.
“That’s the good thing about a tournament like the World League Final. We play games against the likes of Germany and the Netherlands. Normally you’d try to do that on tours but with the schedule so full these days it’s becoming more difficult to get those opportunities.”
It was Germany that enjoyed the first sight of goal but Tyler Lovell’s (WAIS) save with his heel kept parity inside two minutes before, at the other end, Jeremy Hayward fired Australia’s first goal from a penalty corner.
No sooner had the NT defender struck than the Kookaburras were two goals up. Matthew Swann’s textbook low, flat tomahawk pass from the right hand side was expertly matched by Jamie Dwyer’s clever near post deflection for 2-0.
With the Kookaburras’ goalkeepers rotating it was Andrew Charter that was the busier of the two stoppers, saving a penalty corner early in the third period before denying Deecke from a penalty stroke awarded against Dawson.
And it was NSW youngster Dawson who made an impact in the opposite circle against the run of play three minutes before half time. His low penalty corner flick dipped under the left glove of Germany goalkeeper Nicolas Jacobi and inside the bottom corner for 3-0.
Despite dominating the third quarter possession the Kookaburras defence was breached for the only time in the match when Christopher Ruhr knocked home an overhead forehand more commonly seen in tennis.
With Germany pushing right to the end, Kieran Govers’ vision and overhead pass unleashed Glenn Tuner high up field. The experienced forward used all his strength to hold off the attentions of two German defenders before coolly rolling the ball across the line into the unguarded goal for 4-1.
Earlier, the Netherlands overcame Canada 2-0 in the first quarter-final. The third and fourth quarter-finals take place in the early hours (AEDT) of Friday morning.
Australia will face the Netherlands in the first semi-final at 00:00am AEDT on Saturday 5 December (9:00pm AWST, Friday 4 December).
The Kookaburras’ World League Final squad includes WAIS scholarship athletes; Tyler Lovell, Fergus Kavanagh, Trent Mitton and Aran Zalewski.
– HockeyAus
