Kookaburras Suffer World Cup Defeat to England
The Kookaburras have wasted a golden opportunity in their first game at the 2010 World Cup, going down 3-2 to England over night in New Delhi, India.
Despite going down on the scoreboard, the Kookaburras were simply dominate everywhere else on the pitch, recording 11 shots on goal to five, controlling 65% of the possession and producing 21 more circle penetrations than their opposition.
However despite controlling the play, the Kookaburras were wasteful in front of goal, making their defeat extremely disappointing after converting only 1 from 12 penalty corner attempts.
The Kookaburras emerged as the more dominate team in the first half, however were unable to make the most of their early scoring opportunities, a trend that would continue throughout the match.
The majority of the opening ten minutes was played within the Kookaburras half as they applied huge amounts of pressure onto the English defence.
As the half continued England began to gain some momentum, looking dangerous on their rare few circle penetrations. However the Kookaburras defence was up to the challenge, getting many players back within the defensive circle to make it virtually impossible for England to score.
Strikers Glenn Turner and Grant Schubert became focal points near the goals for the Kookaburras, but Australia’s inability to convert their opportunities continued.
Eventually Australia gained some reward for their effort when Eddie Ockenden was stick checked in front of goal, with the penalty stroke converted by three time world player of the year Jamie Dwyer.
Australia’s celebration was short lived, with England’s young gun Ashley Jackson converting the first penalty corner of the match to level the score at the 26 minute mark.
The Kookaburras were given an opportunity to regain the lead only minutes later, but their fifth penalty corner of the half followed the same pattern as those before it, going wide of the goal in another wasted opportunity.
England made the Kookaburras pay the ultimate price shortly after, converting their second penalty corner from only their third attempt to gain the lead with only minutes remaining in the first half.
Australia looked likely to draw level early in the second half when awarded yet another penalty corner. However once again the shot on goal was unsuccessful.
Again the Kookaburras were made to pay for their inability to convert, forced to watch England score their third goal from a fast break in the early stages of the second half to gain a 3-1 lead.
Throughout the remainder of the half the Kookaburras were awarded five more penalty corners however all proved unsuccessful as the Kookaburras began to run out of time.
Finally the Kookaburras found a way onto the scoreboard, with Jamie Dwyer scoring from a rebound off the goalkeeper from the Kookaburras 12th penalty corner to give the Kookaburras some chance with four minutes remaining.
When the Kookaburras were awarded their 13th penalty corner only a minute later a draw seemed a real possibility.
However a video referral from England showed that the ball actually came off the foot of Australia’s Des Abbott, giving England the ball and virtually ending Australia’s hopes of scoring.
The surprise loss has undoubtedly made the Kookaburras path to the semi finals more difficult however the team will look to regroup when they play tournament hosts India in their second game of the tournament on Tuesday 2 March.
Five WAIS athletes named in Hockeyroos squad:
ACT pair Anna Flanagan and Catriona Bailey-Price will make their international debuts for the Hockeyroos after being selected in the Australian squad for a three test series against Korea.
The matches will be played in Perth from March 2-5 as part of the Hockeyroos preparation for their World Cup Qualifier event which will be played in Santiago, Chile from April 24 – May 2.
Flanagan and Bailey-Price’s selection comes after the pair impressed recently during matches between the SIS/SAS and New Zealand’s senior national team in Perth.
AIS-WAIS athletes Fiona Boyce and Shelly Liddelow will be joined in the squad by fellow AIS-WAIS athletes Kim Walker, Hope Munro and Ashleigh Nelson. Emily Hurtz has also forced her way back into the Hockeyroos line up after also competing in the SIS/SAS matches against New Zealand.
– Hockey Australia