Big boys play tonight in the hockey World Cup

New Delhi: Four consecutive wins on the trot, 23 goals in the preliminary league, a record margin (12-0) of victory against South Africa. The signs are all there for Australia to finally lift the World Cup for a second time, and they would be fancying having a shot at the title especially because their semifinal opposition, The Netherlands, have not looked as impressive as other teams in contention.

The Dutch were wobbly in their last league match against Korea and just about managed to ward off the one goal that could take the Koreans to the knock-out stage. That England lost their last match and Germany have been held to two draws, adds credence to the Aussie might, but the Champions Trophy winners have to actually deliver as well at the business end of the championship.

If they do so, it will not be a case of being third time lucky after losing to Germany in the previous two finals, but of a hunger not shown by anyone thus far in the tournament, partly because of their 2-3 loss to England in their opener. “If we play well, it will be very difficult for any team to beat us from here on,” cautioned Aussie skipper Jamie Dwyer, the FIH player of the year in 2009. “We have done well against the Dutch in recent times and don’t mind playing them.”

The Aussies have enough firepower in the form of penalty-corner specialist Luke Doerner (six goals in the tournament), Dwyer and Glenn Turner (five each), and enough balance between field goals and short corner conversions.

However, the Netherlands would like to gain more penalty-corners if they hope to see famed drag-flicker Taeke Taekema (six goals) make a difference to the outcome in any way and captain Teun de Nooijer might have to produce a trick or two in the midfield.
“Australia are the favourites in this tournament. They have been playing very well, but now that we have reached the knock-out stage, you never know what might happen,” said de Nooijer.

The battle is likely to be more even in the other semifinal, in which England might just miss injured defender-cum-pivot Richard Mantell, who is pretty handy with penalty-conversions too. England have made their first last-four grade since losing to Australia in the1986 final and have a chance to prove that their European Championship title was no fluke.

“We have shown that we are capable of beating any side in the world. We have had a fine tournament and one should not look too much into our loss against Spain in the last league match as we knew we would be in the semifinals,” said England captain Barry Middleton, who would be depending on upcoming Ashley Jackson with penalty-corners. For Germany, who are here with just three players who were part of the title-winning side at home in 2006, it is a chance for revenge after losing 3-5 to England in the continental meet.