Form guide favours Aussies in World Cup final
NEW DELHI: Australia and Germany, for the third time in eight years, will battle for hockeys biggest honour.
When action transpires at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, on Saturday, the Germans will be on the threshold of a hat-trick of World Cup titles. The Australians, aiming for their second after 24 years, would hope to end a painful sequence of finishing runners-up twice in a row to the same team, Germany.
Coach Richard Charlesworth, though, lets bygones be bygones. “I was just an interested spectator in the last the last two World Cups. Here, the opponents are different, our team is very different, the coaches are different, I am different. This team can make its own history by doing justice to itself and winning the World Cup,” the player of the 1986 World Cup said.
Charlesworth, however, is mindful about his opponents in the final. “It will be a difficult game for us”, said the man who guided the Australian women to both World Cup and Olympic success.
The Germans, after all, are the only unbeaten team in the tournament. But like the Aussies started on an indifferent note, trailing 0-2 at one stage against South Korea.
They fought back to draw but since then have looked the solid and vaunted unit that they are.
World Cup Head-to-head: Australia won 4, Germany won 4, drawn 3