MELBOURNE: Australia claimed the men’s field hockey Champions Trophy for a record 10th time with a come-from-behind 5-3 victory over Germany in the gold medal match on Sunday.
The defending champions stormed back from 1-3 down at half-time to dominate the second half with four unanswered goals against the reigning Olympic and world champions.
In doing so Australia retained the title it won 4-1 against Spain at Rotterdam last year.
Austrlia’s Grant Schubert was named player of the tournament and was tied with teammate Luke Doerner for most goals with six.
The victory ensures that Australia’s Kookaburras will participate in the next Champions Trophy tournament at Moenchengladbach, Germany, in July whatever the outcome at the New Delhi World Cup, which gets underway next February.
The Champions Trophy has been a rehearsal for the World Cup by the top six teams in the world, introducing new and untested players to fill gaps left by retirements after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Australian coach Ric Charlesworth indicated there would be changes in his team before the squad is announced late next month for the World Cup.
“The World Cup team will look very different from this one,” Charlesworth said.
Australia began boldly with Des Abbott scoring in the second minute, trapping and turning in the circle to fire into goal.
Germany dominated the remainder of the first half, scoring three unanswered goals.
Eighteen-year-old Florian Fuchs scored his fifth goal of the tournament, Martin Haner converted a penalty corner and Matthias Witthaus slotted home Germany’s third goal.
Germany’s 3-1 lead at the break looked to have created a mountain too high for Australia to conquer, but the home side hit back strongly in the second period.
“There is a belief within the team as we are young and we have been training hard for this so we thought (at halftime) if we could stay in it and get an early goal we would be a very good chance to win,” experienced defender Mark Knowles said.
Australia turned the tide, converting three penalty corners in 13 minutes.
Liam de Young scored off a rebound off the pads of goalkeeper Max Weinhold and two unstoppable drag-flicks by Luke Doerner to put Australia ahead 4-3.
Germany began to tire in the last 20 minutes as Australia relentlessly cranked up the pressure.
Doerner set up Australia’s last goal, audaciously flicking 70 metres from the top of Australia’s defensive circle to Fergus Kavanagh at the opposite end of the pitch.
Kavanagh hoisted the ball over Weinhold for a spectacular finish.
Charlesworth said his team should not have been trailing by so much at halftime.
“We should not have been in that position in the first place because we made some bad decisions in defence and we were made to pay for it,” he said.
Germany coach Markus Weise said he was pleased with the performance of his team at the Melbourne tournament.
“This tournament has been good for us,” he said. “Now the guys can see how much more they have to do before they get to the World Cup in three months’ time as they now have a better understanding of what fitness is required.”
South Korea took the bronze medal over Netherlands 4-2 and Spain beat England 5-2 in the playoff for fifth place.