KL and Monchengladbach to Delhi, power remains the same

It’s repeat final of Monchengladbach. Australia and Germany will again vie for the gold. Four years have passed since that memorable night, the classic contest we witnessed in Germany, but nothing seemed to have changed between these two contemporary giants.

Australia overcame tough Netherlands 2-1 while Germany handed out a fluent 4-2 defeat to England to stake claim for the Saturday finals.

Coaches changed, key players are not there, yet the two teams, who have tried and tested system propel them to pinnacle, not individual stars, will produce another of classic stuff on Saturday.

The second semifinal, played against great support from The Netherlands, was competitive compared to earlier England and Germany semis.

Notwithstanding the absence of Christopher Zeller, who was the lynchpin of attack in the previous World Cup, Germany came out with a pattern that denied England not much space in the circle.

“Yes, man of Mantell’s caliber was missing today, as he was not only a great defender but also an excellent communicator”, opined Simon Mason, acting president of England Hockey Board, who is also former celebrated England Goalie.

Simon was to the point. The English defence crumbled today against the might of Germans.

All England could manage despite heavy attack in the second was a couple of penalty corners, which went abegging anyway. On the other hand, Germany went hammer and tongs with penalty corners, most of them bringing in goals.

Goals, on the contrary, was in short supply in the second semifinal. Umpiring hassles and goof ups apart – almost every attack had a referral, reversal etc etc – precise Australia took 2-0 lead before The Netherlands understood the necessity of changing gear. The Dutch fought hard in the last ten minutes or so, even a penalty corner was in askance just 8 seconds left in the clock, but the referral did not come to their rescue this time. Australia played out the time for their third successive World Cup finals.

The same referral came to be the saviour of The Netherlands bit earlier. Even as German umpire Christoph Blasch did not think of giving penalty corner, the third umpire thought of a stroke which Taeke Taekema converted to his broadest fisting and joy.

Earlier, Luke Doerner converted a penalty corner to put Australia on ascend in the first half.

The important point here is, despite Bernhard Peter’s preference to football, and Barry Dancer left the Australian scene, both the teams are on the same competitive level as they were in 2002 or 2006.

That is the lesson the Asians need to understand if they are interested in seeing their teams revive their fortunes. There has to be a system and the system should steer the teams to success, not individuals.