In the highly anticipated final of the 2008 WorldHockey Champions trophy in Rotterdam between Australia and Spain, the Kookaburras of WorldHockey player of the Year Jamie Dwyer, prevailed with a 4-1 win to claim their ninth ever Champions Trophy title, tying Germany for most titles won in Champions Trophy history.
Australia had put the pressure on early, scoring in the fifth minute through Desmond Abbott who batted home the rebound off a shot to the crossbar. Xavi Ribas soon equalized for Spain however with a powerful dragflick that Stephen Lambert got his stick to but could not stop.
In an intense and fast-paced rest of the first half, the two teams delivered entertaining hockey with a number of scoring opportunities but maintained the deadlock until the break – and beyond. Australia finally tipped the balance with a penalty stroke converted by Jamie Dwyer in the 52nd minute.
Falling behind, Spain soon started upping the pressure – taking the risk of exposing their goal, which the Kookaburras capitalized on twice more in the final ten minutes.
Eddie Ockenden finished a Kiel Brown cross of with a hard hit into the boards, and Eli Matheson sunk a hard reverse stick shot in the final minute. Incidentally, Eli Matheson thus made himself the last person to score in this tournament after also having been the first to do so.
Earlier in the day, Argentina had wrestled down the host team from the Netherlands on penalty strokes after a 2-2 regulation time final result to claim the bronze medal, and Germany had defeated Korea 3-1 to take fifth place.
Individual awards were handed to Juan Manuel Vivaldi of Argentina as Best Goalkeeper, Florian Keller of Germany as Top Scorer, Eddie Ockenden of Australia as Most Promising Young Player and Jamie Dwyer, also of Australia, as Best Player of the Tournament. The Fair Play Trophy was awarded to Spain.
1 Comment
Kudos to Kookaburras .. they deserve every bit of it…!
I think, I can predict when will India win the Champions Trophy!
It’s a well known opinion that till the time adminstration will not change .. no medals will come our way .. now when will such an adminstration come into existence .. most of the current players lack professionalism ..
it will be when children of current hockey players grow up with a professional mindset ..!
the next generation children will definitely be a progressive generation to show some professional spirit for the sport .. that is when they will do something selfless .. and hence will be the end of an era of selfish, self centered and corrupt officials.
in line with the above ..imagine a medal to india … some 25 years later..!