Beijing, August 13
Champions Australia humiliated South Africa 10-0 in the men’s Olympic hockey today but said they were looking to convert more goal chances in the next game. Top-ranked
Australia are favourites for the title after winning a ninth Champions Trophy crown and their second straight dominating victory kept them on course for a semifinal spot.
“We were satisfied with some of the things we set out to do, but obviously we never get so excited by a score like that as it tends to mask things that you don’t do that well,” Australia captain Bevan George told Reuters.
“We are definitely happy with the guys’ performance but we will go back tonight and look at what we did and what we can improve on for the next game.” They play Pakistan on Friday.
Australia, who scored five goals in each half, had 22 attempts on goal, apart from four penalty corners, and George said he was not happy at the conversion rate.
Australia were all over South Africa with Eli Matheson leading the way with three goals and Jamie Dwyer and David Guest scoring two each.
It was South Africa’s second big defeat following the 5-0 loss to Netherlands, one of the favourites. — Reuters