Times of India: Hockey World League Final: Australia spank Spain 4-1 to enter semi-finals

Feroz Khan

BHUBANESWAR: Defending champions Australia entered the semi-finals of the Hockey World League Final after beating Spain 4-1 on Wednesday in front of a packed stadium. Blake Govers (50′, 50′), Aaron Kleinschmidt (48′) and Jeremy Hayward (28′) scored for the world no. 2 while Marc Garcia was the lone goal-scorer for Spain.

It was Australia all over Spain in the first half when they dictated the pace. They attacked more, strung together good passes and made more circle penetrations. The young Lachlan Sharp got them ahead after pushing one in the second half but Spain contested for a foul and the TV umpire on review fulfilled their wish following an obstruction by an Australian player.

Australia would have wished the goal stood because soon Spanish captain Miguel Delas slapped the free hit inside the circle. Australian Jeremy Edwards deflected that ball to Garcia who had enough space and time to guide that in and took his team to 1-0 lead.

Australia then converted a penalty corner via drag-flicker Jeremy Haywards who slung his shot low and to the right of Quico Cortes and Australia drew parity two minutes before the half-time hooter.

The teams were on even footing and it continued with Australia playing with 10 men after Daniel Beale was shown yellow card but the defending champions held on in the third quarter. It was the fourth quarter that made all the difference between the two sides with the Kookaburras converting three penalty corners in quick succession to take a three-goal lead.

Kleinschmidt scored with a reverse tap on rebound after Cortes had stopped the flick with his left hand as Australia took the lead at 2-1. Then, two more conversions within a minute by Blake Govers made it 4-1 and Spain had fallen back by quite a margin. While Australia shifted a gear in the final 15 minutes, Spain went a step back. Worse, their most experienced campaigner Sergi Enrique got a yellow card late in the fourth quarter making it an almost impossible task for Spain to claw their way back into the contest.